


Corp de Ballet

by Dominura



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - 1990s, Alternate Universe - Ballet, Ballet, Eating Disorders, F/F, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, M/M, ballet school, dance, jean but with frosted tips, pirouetting at the speed of light, safe for work happy good times, tw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-21
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-18 22:57:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 26,088
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9406658
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dominura/pseuds/Dominura
Summary: The Royal Stohess Ballet school is almost as esteemed and as world renowned as the Royal Stohess Ballet Company itself. It brings students in from far and wide with the hope that they too could join the ranks of the most elite dancers in the world.  Mikasa and Eren can hardly believe they’ve made it this far, the chance to be able to dance in the company of their dreams fills them with hope. Along the way they meet new people, make new friends, and enemies. However, they learn that you can never judge a book by its cover.





	1. Arrival

The Royal Stohess Ballet school is almost as esteemed and as world renowned as the Royal Stohess Ballet Company itself. It brings students in from far and wide with the hope that they too could join the ranks of the most elite dancers in the world. The marbled floors of the hallway echo with hundreds of years of history like the pitter-patter of pointe shoes and careful whispers. Mikasa can hardly keep up with Eren as he cheerfully sprints down the hall, “I can’t believe we’ve made it,” he throws his hands in the air and yells, “The Stohess, we’re here, for real this time.” He pants and rubs his eyes looking around at what is to be his new home. 

Mikasa smiles faintly, which for her, is the equivalent of a beaming grin, “We really are lucky, aren’t we?” Eren pulls her into a sweaty hug, which this time, she graciously accepts. It was their first time auditioning for the school in hopes of getting a spot. Petra Ral, the audition coordinator who had the final say of it all, selected five students to join and called back another thirty for this afternoons call-back.

“It doesn’t feel real,” Eren mumbles into her shoulder, she can feel his hot tears on her skin as he sobs, he always gets so overly emotional about everything, she never really knows what to so she rubs his back like a baby, “It is real,” she pats him, “You worked hard and it paid off this time.” 

“I couldn’t have done it without you,” he says as he wipes his tears and snot away with the back of his hand. 

“Yeah,” she passes him her handkerchief, “probably not,” she smiles again and Eren elbows her into the stomach, which is comparable to ramming his elbowing into a brick wall. 

“There you two are,” A familiar voice down the hall causes them to turn around. 

“Armin,” Eren beams as he rubs his throbbing elbow, “Did you make it in?” 

The petite blonde shrugs loosely, “I got a call back, we’re taking a break now, but we have a mini class to learn some choreography for about an hour, then we dance it and she will pick the remaining seven,” he stretches and smiles, “even if I get sent home, I’ll be glad I made it this far, there were one hundred people auditioning. Over one hundred very talented people at that,” Armin has always been self-conscious about his height, his dancing, his looks. He is the type that could get an A on a test, but it's never as good as an A+ or better. He tries to be optimistic about the whole thing, but his overwhelming self-doubt makes him question if he even truly belongs here. 

Eren pats Armin roughly on the shoulders, “You’re too hard on yourself, you’re very talented dancer, Armin,” Eren’s bright green eyes narrow with determination and strength, “give it your all today and I know you can do it.” 

Armin nods earnestly, “Thank you, Eren, that really means a lot.” There is a bell from down the hall that signals the audition hopefuls to return from their recess, “I should get back.” 

“Good luck, Armin!” Eren shouts as Armin speeds down the hall in his ballet shoes. He must have been so nervous he forgot to change out of them. 

“I believe in you, Armin!” Mikasa encourages him, he’s going to give it everything he has, “I really hope he makes it,” she says to Eren once Armin is out of sight, “it wouldn’t be the same without him.” 

“Yeah,” Eren nods, he looks hopefully down the hall, “I know he can do it, Armin is the smartest and most determined guy I know.” Armin can solve the problem in any situation, and he can memorize choreography in a fraction of the time than anyone else could at their old ballet school in Shiganshina. It was like he could create an image of the whole ballet in his head just from watching it once without forgetting about a single detail. The two siblings always encouraged him to pursue a career in choreographing, but his self-confidence is far too low to think that anyone would want to perform his work. 

Mikasa, on the other hand, struggles with memorizing choreography, but it's her superior strength and technical skills that make her stand out. She can jump far higher than any male dancer and pirouette so fast she turns into a blur as if she was on ice skates or propelled by jets. It’s her overall lack of grace and ladylike elegance that is her biggest struggle. All that comes from her early start in rhythmic and floor gymnastics and her love for seeing how far her body can take her. She see’s ballet as a sport and a challenge to be conquered. Watching her unleash her true strength, even to Eren, can be incredibly overwhelming and even scary at times. 

Eren has managed to make it this far on sheer determination alone. Unlike Mikasa, the odds were biologically stacked against him. Flat feet, asthma, and stiff muscles, among other things, made just trying to do what the other boys were doing a challenge most days. While his technicality and strength isn’t anything special it's his artistry, passion and self-driven ambition that puts him front and center. 

“I’m sure he will do just fine,” she rubs her aching knees, “Let’s go get changed and give ourselves a tour until he’s done.” 

“Good idea,” Eren agrees, while his body is exhausted, his mind is racing with possibilities. They’ve been to the ballet here a good ten plus times. While the main building is familiar, the school is not. Each dance studio is beautiful. The dark oak floors that are all well over a hundred years old have since been made smooth by thousands of dancers and beg to be danced on. Grand brass and crystals chandeliers give each room an ethereal glow as the autumn sun sinks below the city skyline. Each room has a charm of its own, and walking past them is like window shopping as they list of what they like about each one. The whole place feels so alive like a dream, the two can hardly comprehend that this is going to be there home for the next three years. 

Sitting in the foyer, the two of them peacefully enjoy a cup coffee and snacks as dancers and people race hectically around them, “Mom would be so proud,” Mikasa gently picks apart her muffin, placing little tufts of it on her tongue, she leans against her brother and somberly says, “I wonder what she would say if we called her.” 

Eren thinks about it for a moment before raising his finger and aptly lowering it, “she’d probably yell at us to do our best and keep up with our studies, she wouldn’t say she was proud or anything but you could tell she is.” 

“Yeah,” Mikasa nods, it's timed like this when she really misses her parents and their wisdom but she’s thankful she can share these moments with Eren and hopefully Armin soon too. When Armin and the other students leave the practice hall the two stand up and speed walk towards him. He doesn’t look happy, he doesn’t look sad, he looks pale and almost in a state of shock. 

“Did you make it?” Eren braces for the unknown. 

Armin bites his lip and says nothing, it has them worried at first as they stammer to ask him how it went, but then they see that he’s suppressing a grin, “I made it,” he says but before he could say another word Eren squeals with happiness and smothers him in a hug with Mikasa’s assistance. They dance around him and twirl him about as if he was a May Pole. The trio isn’t splitting up, they’re staying together, and that’s the best outcome they could have hoped for. Armin pulls out his Polaroid, the latest model, and they ask a passerby to take a photo for them. 

Looking at the freshly printed photograph, none of them want to forget this moment for as long as they live, it's from now on that their professional career as dancers begins.


	2. Beginnings

A week later, once papers are signed and tuition is paid the three of them are eager to move into their new dorms. As much as they would prefer to get an apartment with just the three of them, it’s required that they stay on campus since they are still minors and the school is to care for them. 

Unfortunately, the building is old and without elevators so lugging bags up four flights of stairs is annoying but once everything is up it’s a relief. The living space isn’t as nice as the rest of the building which sports high ceilings, intricate light fixtures, and marble floors, this part is a little more cramped and finished with deep stained wood which makes it feel homelier. 

Eren and Armin let Mikasa head off to the girl’s dorm while the two of them weave their ways through the confusing halls. Armin checks his paper several times before knocking on the door, it appears his roomie is already inside. 

“Common’ in,” a voice calls from behind the heavy doors, Armin opens it to find a sparsely furnished room, it contains two twin beds, two ancient looking wardrobes, two small desks, a small hand sink with a medicine cabinet, a window that faces a brick wall and a weird looking bald kid doing crunches on the floor. 

“I’m Connie,” the guy gets up gives Armin a sturdy handshake with a clammy hand, “I remember you from the auditions,” he smiles, “you were really good. I’m glad you got a room with me, us short guys got to stick together, yunno.” 

Armin laughs a little nervously and shakes his hand back, “Thanks, I’m Armin,” he feels a little guilty that he doesn’t remember him, but either way he seems like a chill and friendly guy. Armin sees the TV sitting on the desk on Connie’s side of the room, but what catches his eyes is the gaming console sitting on top of it. 

“Is that a PlayStation?” Armin’s eyes widen, he’s surprised to see that he brought one with him to school and just as surprised to see the console given that it just came out. 

“Oh, yeah,” Connie scratches the back of his head and looks lovingly at it, “I thought it would bring it with me, it’s not going to do much good sitting at my folk’s house considering my parents still don’t understand the concept of a cordless remote control,” Armin nods and continues to stare at it, Connie looks at him, he can feel how bad Armin wants to play, “we got a good thirty minutes to class if you want to play,” Connie offers. 

Armin accepts the offer without hesitation. Twenty minutes later the two of them are rushing to get dressed and find the classroom. Armin and Connie run into Eren and Mikasa in a stairwell, he introduces them to his new roommate who is eager to befriend both of them. Both Eren and Mikasa have yet to meet their roommates, they must have just dropped their stuff off and disappeared. 

They drop their bags just inside the studio and move quickly to the barre to warm up with the others. Armin looks around at the familiar and unfamiliar faces. It’s the first day of class and unsurprisingly everyone is silent and focused on their own warmup routine. Armin counts eleven students, including himself out of the twelve expected. They all were wise to show up early and warm up. 

“What a small class, huh,” Eren whispers to Armin when they both bend backward over to stretch. Armin nods in agreement, there is supposed to be two first year classes of twelve students each, but the other class focuses on modern contemporary dance and jazz while this one is mostly traditional ballet with few other styles thrown in. It's unlikely the two classes will ever meet. 

The closing of the door and two loud claps from the instructor’s hands signal that class has begun, he sets a stack of papers on a vacant chair, “Come around here, and get one of these papers,” the voice of the instructor is unenthusiastic as is his expression. Short in stature, with a dark overgrown undercut, long tired eyes, and a surprisingly strong build, the instructor introduces himself by writing his name on the board, “I’m Mr. Ackerman, but you can call me Levi, ” he says as he writes in picture-perfect cursive on the board, his American accent comes as a surprise to the students, but makes him all the more interesting to listen to, “I’ll be your main choreography and repertoire instructor on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings from eight until noon, while my accomplice, Mrs. Ral, who you’ve already met, will be instructing you on the basics from Tuesdays and Thursdays mornings eleven until four. After my classes, you’ll have an hour break before heading to regular academic classes for the rest of the afternoon, after her class you’ll have the afternoon off, which I suggest you use to work on your school work and practice in a studio. On Sunday evenings, at four until eight the class will be split, boys with me and girls with Mrs. Ral, that way we can work on technique.” 

The class flips through the booklet rapidly trying to keep up, while Eren stares wide-eyed at the instructor. He has definitely seen him before, he used to be in the company, it's strange that he’s teaching, he doesn’t look old enough to be retired from dancing. Eren wonders if something happened, like an injury or disagreement. Eren can’t take his eyes off him. 

“It’s policy that I have to read you the school rules and regulations,” he clears his throat, “But honestly, I don’t give a shit, and I’m sure you all can read by now, but I will briefly go over what you should expect for this term,” he tosses a piece of chalk in the air and catches it before writing on the board, “First, you can expect that I’m going to see where you’re all at, which means no pointe shoes until you’ve been cleared by me and Mrs. Ral. For this week and next, we’re going to be working to build up your strength, flexibility, and fundamentals. Then in two weeks, we’re going to work on Pas de Deux on Wednesdays and-“his eyes drift melancholically to an impatient hand shoots up like a rocket high into the air, “yes?” 

“Do we get to choose our partners?” Everyone turns to the guy who just spoke, his ugly poorly bleached hair, frosted tips, and vomit inducing grin makes Eren frown internally. He seems like a spoiled rich kid, and Eren remembers him also having a loud mouth during auditions, he complained about the temperature of the room being too hot but after watching him dance Eren has to admit that he does have skill. 

“I’ll be choosing them for you,” he says flatly, he’s clearly unimpressed, “unfortunately the sixth female dancer in this class isn’t able to come until next semester, she sustained a serious injury over the weekend, so it looks like one lucky lady is going to have two partners until she returns. Anyways,” he clears his throat again, “the first performance we have is at the end of the semester, which is going to be A Midsummers Nights Dream,” there is loose excited chatter in the class, “I’ll try to assign parts soon as I get a good feel for you all as dancers and individuals,” Eren can already see the guy with frosted tips being Nick Bottom, he’s got the face for it that’s for sure, “Until then we will be having graded recitals every other week based on what we’re doing in class. Before we properly introduce ourselves, any other questions?” 

Frosted tips raises his hand at the same time as a petite blonde girl with big childlike eyes, Levi calls on the female student. 

“When are your office hours,” she asks, her voice is as tender as freshly fallen snow, “they’re not listed on the paper.” 

“Sorry,” he gets the chalk out again, “I’m in room 306, I’m for sure in my office or a studio on Tuesdays and Thursdays from noon until around nine, other than that it's by appointment only, but I don’t have much of a life so I’m pretty much always around. So, if you need help with anything except your academic class work, I get paid to help you, so use me as much as you need.” The last comment makes Eren and a few of the girl’s blush, “and the other question?” 

“Where will you post the grades?” Frosted tips asks. 

“On my office door, it says that in the booklet, maybe have a look at it before you ask anything else,” he speaks sharply, he is not interested in wasting time, he watches as the guy rolls his eyes, “So,” he continues in somewhat lighter tone, “Tell us your name and where you from starting with you,” he points to the tallest girl in the class. 

She sounds almost as enthusiastic as the instructor, “I’m Ymir, and I just transferred from Winnipeg.” 

“Winnipeg…” Levi thinks over it the name sounds familiar, he’s been there one for some type of international workshop many years back, he remembers the wind from the airport, it froze his skin solid instantly and just recalling it make him shiver, “Cold place, huh?” 

She shrugs, “I guess.” He gestures to the next person, she shoots up, though she isn’t much taller than the sitting students.

“I’m Christa Renz,” she beams in her tiny blue pinch front leotard, she looks like she belongs in the primary class, “I’m from here actually! Let’s all be friends.” She is so bubbly everyone can’t help but smile a little bit. 

“I’m Jean Kirstein,” the next one speaks as if addressing his servants, he runs his hands through his ugly and tasteless hair, “You might recognize my last name, I am in fact the son of Matteau Kirstein, the senior principal dancer of the-“ 

Levi cuts him off, “I didn’t ask for an autobiography, where are you from.” 

Jean puts his hand to his chest, he sounds personally offended, “Trost.” 

“Thank you, Mr. Kirstein, and you?” he turns to Eren who nearly forgets his own name with the instructors and the entire class’s eyes on him. As much as he enjoys dancing in the spotlight, speaking in one is an entirely different story. 

“I-I’m Eren Jaeger, I’m from Shiganshina, I’m nice you meet you all.” 

“Nice to meet you, Eren,” he responds back, Eren nods and quickly averts his eyes. 

Mikasa is next, “I’m Mikasa Ackerman, Eren is my brother, I’m also from Shiganshina.” 

Levi’s eyes narrow further as he looks at her and cocks his head, “There can only be one Ackerman per class, it's school policy.” Mikasa nods seriously, he was making a joke but because of his deadpan expression, she appears to have completely missed it. 

“Good morning, I’m Reiner Braun,” the burly student waves to everyone, “I’m from Germany.” 

A quiet voice speaks so softly, almost no one can hear, “I’m Berthold Fubar, I’m from Armenia,” Eren is surprised to see that the voice came from a freakishly tall dancer, “Nice to meet you.” 

“Names Connie, Connie springer,” the bald kid says as if he was James Bond, then he does some strange nonsensical action with his hands, no one laughs except the girl beside him who tries to silently hold back her laughter, “I’m from a small town in Titania, so there isn’t much point of mentioning its name.” 

“I’m Sasha Braus,” the girl beside him clears her throat and pushes her chewing gum into her cheek but it's still visible, she has an Irish accent, “I’m also from a small town but in Ireland. I will also plead the fifth.” 

“No chewing gum in class,” Levi points to the garbage can, she frowns and pulls the gum out of her mouth but instead of throwing it out she tries to pass it to him. He scowls at is and points to the bin again.

There is a moment after when it’s silent, a few of the students get up to stretch again, “And you?” he asks the remaining student, who everyone didn’t notice. She managed to go completely ignored like a ghost, even Sasha who was sitting beside her the whole time looks surprised to see her. 

She pushes her blonde hair bangs out of her eye, only for it to fall back like a curtain. When she speaks almost everyone jumps, there is a dark aura about her that Eren feels immediately once she introduces herself, “I’m Annie Leonhart,” her heavy accent gives away where she is from before she said it, “I’m from Russia.” 

Levi claps his hands once again, “Well now that that’s out of the way, let's go back to the barre and do some stretches.” 

Levi, unlike the instructors back in Shiganshina, dictates the class like a conductor at an orchestra. He’s not concerned in the least to embarrass anyone in front of the class, in fact, it seems like he revels in it. With his thin leather gloves on he repositions dancer’s bodies one by one as he moves up the line. Eren feels nervous when he approaches, and even more nervous when he stops and stares at Erens arms. But thankfully, he says or does nothing and walks to the next person. Eren releases the air the air his lungs. As much as it seems like his instructor is qualified for the job, the way he teaches is threatening. 

When class is over, just about everyone is in pain, which Levi assures them is normal and good. Very few of the students are accustom to dancing for more than two hours at a time, but Mikasa doesn’t seem to bothered by it. He’s going to work them like cattle until they either can’t stand anymore, thus giving up or become the dancer they were born to be. 

After attending academic classes, the sun has long since disappeared by the time Mikasa gets to her dorm room. She’s delighted to find out that she’s roommates with Christa and even more delighted to find out that Christa’s sister bakes her a dozen cookies every week. By living together they will quickly become the best of friends. But Eren, on the other hand, is absolutely not delighted. 

He watches as his roommate unloads his enormous amount of luggage and boxes, he quickly runs out of the room and begins to pile his collection of unnecessary belongings on Erens side of the room. 

“I don’t think so, frosted tips,” Eren gets up from laying in his bed and pushes the stuff back over the invisible line that divides the room, “Keep your stuff on your side of the room, that’s all I ask.” 

Jean scoffs at him, “My names is Jean, not frosted tips,” but despite his arrogant attitude, he pulls back his boxes. 

“I don’t care what your name is,” Eren gets changed into his nylon tracksuit, he wants to go for a run with Mikasa before it gets past curfew, “we’re going to be living together, I’ll respect your side of the room if you respect mine.” Jean scowls at him, and Eren returns the gesture. It's clear that the two of them living together will quickly make them mortal enemies. 

Eren feels the weight drop off his shoulders once he and Mikasa get jogging, there is no better medicine than hard cardio, “How is your roommate?” Erens asks her, the sweat quickly forming on his brow. 

“Good, or great actually,” Mikasa pants and wipes her nose with her sleeve, “I’m with Christa, she seems really nice, but she’s a little bit chatty. I think that we will make good roommates. How about you?” 

“I’m with Jean ‘frosted tips’ Kirstein,” Eren grumbles, he’s getting annoyed with his current living situation again, “the guy literally brought everything he owns, he’s such a tool and it's only been one day. Maybe I’ll ask Armin and his roommate if they want to make a trade for him. I know I can live with Armin without losing my mind and my will to live.”

Mikasa nods in agreement, “he asked me for my number on audition day, that Jean guy, then he asked if I wanted to go out to see a movie after. I said no of course, didn’t make him happy, but anyone who thinks a relationship can survive this place has to be delusional. I came here to dance, anything other than that is not worth my time.” 

“You’re right about that,” Eren stops to catch his breath, he rests his hands on his knees, after all, that exercise in the morning is quickly catching up with him, “What do you think about Mr. Ackerman?” he asks her, she continues with jumping jacks place like it's nothing. 

She shrugs, “he seems alright, a little strict but I don’t mind. You don’t like him?” 

“No, it's not that,” Eren stretches his arms, “I like him, I just wonder why he’s teaching. He doesn’t seem old enough to be a teacher, he can’t be older than thirty. I remember him from the ballet, he was Romeo in Romeo and Juliette, do you remember that? I wonder if he got injured or something.” 

Mikasa looks at her watch, “I’m not sure if I remember him, we’ve seen Romeo and Juliette so many times,” It was Erens favourite ballet, he tears up uncontrollably as if it was his first time seeing it every time, “I don’t think its any of our business anyway,” she changes the subject and they begin running back, “don’t worry about it too much, focus on your dancing but then again it probably wouldn’t hurt the two of us to try to make some friends too.”

Eren tries to take what Mikasa said to heart but laying in bed while Jean snores is infuriating. He sounds like a busted motorcycle engine. Eren angrily gets his headphones and plugs them into his boom box and listens to the radio. Anything other than listening to him snoring. After an hour of this, he is still restless. He throws some jeans and a hoodie on, there isn’t much of a point of him trying to get to sleep if Jean and excitement is keeping him awake. Besides, it's almost midnight and this place has to be more interesting at night or at least creepy. 

Walking down the dimly lit hallways gives the place an aura of excitement. Eren makes his way out of the dorms and into the main building of the school. There isn’t a soul around, and the whole place is eerily silent, at least that’s what Eren thinks before he hears a familiar piece being played on piano and a light coming from below a studio room door down the hall. The light and the music draw him in, it's Debussy - Arabesque No. 1, Eren would know that music anywhere. As the music picks up, Eren notices that he’s running towards it as if his legs were moving on their own and his life depended on it. At the door, he peers trough the small circular window, his eyes adjust to the light and widen with disbelief. 

It's Levi alone in the studio. The way he’s dancing is unlike anything Eren’s ever seen. Despite having the body of a man, he dances with the grace and skill of a prima ballerina. His pointe shoes click on the floor when he effortlessly lands a perfect fouette arabesque jump. His lines are perfect, his motions are smooth and light weight as if he was made entirely of air and cosmic stardust. He raises his arms before rotating into a axel turn, he looks breathtakingly beautiful. 

Eren leans on the door and watches him, everything about him is captivating and his sweat drenched clothes that cling to his body and his beautifully arched feet makes it all seem almost pornographic to watch. Eren bites his lip, he looks as though he’s been dancing all night, he looks exhausted but he is determined to finish it. His final move before the ending in a run up to a revoltade. He spirals seamlessly in the air but he overshoots his spin and slides off balance where he lands. His legs disappear from under him and he falls hard onto the unforgiving floor and he lays alone panting in pain. Eren watches him lay there, he rolls over onto his back and his chest rises and falls with every breath he takes, with Erens hand firmly on the doorknob he debates running in there to help him but he stops when Levi drags himself to his feet. 

Eren lets go of the doorknob, and it springs back noisily into place. Levi quickly turns to the door and for a split second, he sees Eren’s petrified face before he makes off as fast as he can down the hall. He knows leaving the dorms after curfew is forbidden, and he was just caught red handed watching something feels he wasn’t meant to see. When the door flies open Eren ducks behind a great marble column as Levi scans the darkened hallway, he doesn’t see anyone but he could have sworn someone was just at the door. He wonders if working this hard has made him delirious or if this place truly is haunted, either way, he loses interested in his uninvited spectator and goes back into the room. Eren hears the music starting up again. 

Eren signs with relief, he wouldn’t know what he would do had he got caught. Heading back to his room, he gets into bed folds his arms behind his head and replays Levi’s spins and jumps in his head in slow motion. He’d never seen a man dance en pointe before, well other than in comedic roles that is. He closes his eyes, Jean is still snoring, but now he couldn’t be bothered any less by it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Listen to the song Levi was dancing to!  
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XMVmQAW0CM8


	3. Secrets

Mikasa wakes up naturally every morning at six and if she was at home she would go wake Eren but from now on things are different. She tries to be quiet as not to wake Christa, but when she looks over to the neighboring bed, it lays empty but made. Mikasa goes to get her attire for the morning. From what she heard from other students, Petra an even stricter teacher than Levi, and that she despises tardiness. Mikasa will do everything she can to make a good impression. She tosses on her clothes and is about to open the door when she overhears two people talking quietly in the hall. 

“This is my first time being in Stohess,” it’s Ymir, that tall girl in their class, “That’s really nice of you to offer to show me around.” 

“It’s no problem, really,” It's Christa says cheerfully, “I know all the good places,” she twirls her freshly washed hair, “I could take you out for coffee after class, there is this little café down by the river, hardly anyone knows about it, but they have the best croissants in the city. If you like those things that is, I know other places too-”

Ymir grins, exposing the youthful dimples on her cheeks, “if you say it's perfect, it must be so. I’m going to look forward to it.” 

“Great,” Christa beams, her cheeks light up red, “I’ll see you later.” 

“Of course,” Ymir disappears into her room and Christa does the same. Her heart is fluttering just from talking to her, she squeezes her pajamas and lets out a light sign. Mikasa hesitates to say anything, thinking that she might startle her but Christa walks to her bed and rolls around on her sheets, “Good morning, Mikasa,” she says in a sing-song tone. 

“You’re having a good morning so far I take it,” Mikasa raises an eyebrow at her love-struck behaviour. 

“The best,” Christa lays on her stomach and kicks her legs around, “Ymir and I are going out for lunch after class today, how lovely is that?” 

“Sounds like a nice way to enjoy the weather,” Mikasa sits back down on her bed and watches Christa continue to roll around. 

“Ymir is from Canada,” Christa goes on in a dreamlike state, “but both her parents are from South Africa, she travels around all the world by herself, she’s so brave. I could never do that, sometimes I cry when my driver shows up late. Ymir is so cool, isn’t she?” 

“Mhm,” Mikasa lives vicariously through Christa’s budding romance as it seems. She’s never been even remotely attracted to anyone, dance seems to be the only partner for her. Dance pushes her forwards and comforts her like few people can. Mikasa gets so unwillingly absorbed into Christa as she continues to ramble about her and Ymir’s early morning shower conversation that she almost forgets she needs to eat and take a shower herself. 

In the dining room, Eren looks as poorly rested as always. Mikasa sits beside him and begins eating, she is surprised that he got up on time. He’s gazing with a peaceful expression into his cup of rapidly cooling coffee and humming some song to himself. She wonders what’s gotten into him, she flicks him on the nose, “How did you sleep last night?” 

“Oh,” his eyes take a moment focus on her before he looks back down and says quietly, “I slept well, thanks for asking,” she makes a face at his peculiar behaviour. Armin and Connie come into the room laughing hysterically, they spent the whole night playing video games and cracking jokes. Mikasa can’t help but feel a little left out of whatever is going on here. She stirs her oatmeal repetitively, and looks around, she didn’t sleep particularly well and hasn’t found her appetite yet, so she forces herself to eat an apple and toast instead. 

Soon as breakfast is over, she sees a girl with a long brown ponytail come strolling into the room. It’s the bubble gum girl from the other day. When she realizes she missed breakfast she breaks down in what could only be described as an Oscar-winning performance, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN ITS TOO LATE? THE ROMANS ATE BREAKFAST UNTIL NOON, DAMN YOU SCHOOL BOARD,” she falls on the floor and bangs her fists on the carpet, “DAMN YOU ALL TO HECK,” she begins to spew random nonsense as she looks hopelessly at the empty serving platters. 

Mikasa looks at her cooling bowl of untouched oatmeal and then again at the sobbing girl, “You can have this if you want, Sasha, I didn’t touch it.” The girl’s face lights up, “Really?” she perks up, any sign that she just had a breakdown is gone. Mikasa pushes it towards her, she seems beyond grateful and eats it quickly with a tear in her eye. 

Mikasa props her head up on her arm and takes a sip of Erens abandon coffee, “Who’s your roommate?” She says to her. 

“No one,” she says with food in her mouth, “I think I was gonna to be with that other girl who got injured, but now is just me. Which is perfect, I can stay up all night or go to bed at six if I felt like it. But that girl, I wonder what happened her,” her voice trails off as she chews another mouthful, “That’s some pretty scary stuff.” 

“Sure is,” Mikasa agrees quietly as she gets up to put Erens cup and her plate into the dishwasher. To think that someone’s career could be over before it even began is frightening, she thinks about what Eren said to her about Mr. Ackerman maybe being injured the other night when she warms up on the barre before class begins. 

Mrs. Ral surely lived up to her stories of being stricter than Mr. Ackerman by a longshot, she only accepts the best out of everyone and has little sympathy for how tired or sore they might be. Mr. Ackerman’s class is more geared to choreography and repertoire while her class focuses on the technicality of all the positions and moves. She makes them perform the same action for what feels like hours on end until every member in the class gets it. Even Jean knows better than to argue back and forth with her. 

It's five minutes to the end of class when Levi shows up, he’s wearing street clothes and leaning on the doorframe and looking as unimpressed as ever. Eren feels nervous just having him there and he hopes that he just watches for another moment before heading elsewhere. Once the class is dismissed Levi calls Eren over. Eren curses himself over and over again and dreads talking to him, it’s probably about last night. 

“Mr. Jaeger,” Levi waits for him to put his street shoes back on, “If you could just follow me.” Eren gulps and obeys his order. He nervously holds his ballet shoes and trails after him as Levi leads him into the basement. Eren has never been down here, it’s damp, cold and a little creepy. The overhead exposed piping sounds like is being hammered by ghosts when hot water passes through them. 

“Where are we going?” Eren asks timidly as two other people pass them going the opposite direction.

“Don’t worry, you’re not in trouble,” Levi gives Eren as side eye before continuing forwards, “Dr. Zoe just wanted to talk to you. This place is a little difficult to find so I thought it would bring you down here myself since I don’t have anything better to do,” he stops at a door with a hand written sign that says Dr. H. Zoe and opens the door for Eren before leaving without saying anything further. 

“Are you Eren?” An overly cheerful person joins Eren is what looks like a miniature hospital clinic, Eren nods, “Perfect, if you could just come with me, I’m Dr. Zoe, I’m the school doctor slash school shrink,” she brings him into a small office and sits him down across from her, she shakes his hand before she pulls out a file from the cabinet. The whole place is full of stacks of paperwork and files. It’s a disaster if Erens ever saw one. She mutters to herself as she goes through the file, “Aha,” she pulls out a slip of paper and turns it towards Eren. Eren takes it in his hand, it’s from his medical folder and contains medicine prescribed to him. 

“When you filled out the forum to registration form you put that you weren’t taking any medication other than your inhaler, but your doctor's office faxed me this,” she taps on the page, “it says that you’ve been prescribed these two medications for your anxiety, are you still taking them?” 

Eren feels his mouth go dry, “yeah,” he hates talking about this kind of stuff, it's far too embarrassing, that’s why he takes the medicine in the first place to avoid any talking with shrinks, “I am, sorry I didn’t write it down on the form, I guess I just thought it wasn’t real medication.” 

Dr. Zoe sits back in her chair, and makes a face before gently taking the paper back from him, “it’s all very important information, since some of the pain medication we have here can interact badly with one of these medications in particular,” Eren hangs his head, “It’s very common that ballet students and professionals take these type of medications, it’s a pretty stressful job, it’s nothing to be ashamed about,” she tries to cheer him up, “but you do need to be honest with me. No more secrets, ok?” Eren nods and she pushes her thin wire frame glasses up, “Good, well that’s all I summoned you here for,” she stands up before pausing, “You’re not in a rush to leave or anything?” 

“Not really,” Eren replies, she passes him two sealed folders and a couple envelopes. 

“Would you be able to run these up to the dean’s office?” She asks graciously, “I’d do it myself but as you can tell I have a lot of paperwork to do. If he’s out, could you just put it on his desk, it’s the set of doors off the main room, it’s important that he gets it as soon as possible.” 

“Ok, sure,” Eren smiles and she returns the gesture. 

“Thank you so much,” she shakes his hand again before he gets to the door she shouts, “I’m always here if you need someone to talk to!” Eren heads out to find the dean’s office, it’s a challenging given that class just let out and students are shuffling all over the place. He checks the address on the envelope, it says room 103, at least it sounds easy to find. Amidst the hustle and bustle of the hall, he stumbles to the correct door and enters the spacious room. 

The navy blue walls and gold leaf ceiling compliment the numerous intricate paintings of the city and past deans, as well as pictures of former students and company members in extravagant clothes, “Hello?” Eren calls out quietly, as if not to expect and answer. He admires floor to ceiling windows on the far side and the floor to ceiling bookshelf on the other. It's basically like a library in here, Armin would die if he knew about this room. It's got beautiful couches and chairs, even a small mini bar in the corner but there is no desk or anything that looks like an office. Eren remembers what Dr. Zoe said about the office, that it was off the main room. He approaches a set of heavy set of doors and knocks gently, it's silent so he knocks again. 

There is a deep voice from the other side, “Come in.” 

“Excuse me,” Eren slowly peels open the door, the Dean, Erwin Smith sits behind the desk, but what surprises Eren even more, is Levi. He was sitting on Erwin’s desk, but he stands up slowly when he see’s Eren. Levi’s face is extra smooshed up, he looks annoyed at the previous conversation. 

Levi narrows his eyes at Eren, “Sorry to intrude,” Eren says as he passes the mail to Erwin. Compare to the study, Erwin’s office is plainer and less organized. There isn’t a single picture hanging on the wall other than his framed diplomas, certificates, and awards. He knows that Erwin recently became the dean after the old dean, his stepfather, passed away. Perhaps he’s still not comfortable in this space. 

Erwin puts on his reading glasses and Levi storms out of the room without saying anything further, “This is from Dr. Zoe?” 

“Yes, Sir,” Eren jumps when Levi slams the door on his way out. Levi seemed upset, he wonders what could have possibly happened. 

“Don’t mind him,” Erwin yawns and dismisses Levi’s behaviour, “he’s always like that, a ferocious little thing. You’re one if his students, aren't you?” he sets the mail down on his desk along with the other piles of paperwork. Dr. Zoe said that the mail was important, but Erwin couldn’t care any less about it. 

“Yes, Sir,” Eren tries to stand straight, “It’s my first year here.” 

“Is that so,” Erwin leans back in his chair, “Welcome to the school then,” Eren thanks him, but it's not what you would call a warm welcome, it feels forced, “how are you finding your classes so far?” 

“Fine, thank you, Sir,” Eren smiles as Erwin takes a sip of something dark in a short glass. 

“I’m glad to hear it,” he sets the glass down on the desk, while he doesn’t appear to be busy he seems eager to have Eren gone, “Enjoy the rest of your day.” 

“Thank you, sir,” Eren nods before exiting the room, leaving the dean alone. After such a strange interaction Eren is a little bit in a haze by the time he returns to his dorm to change. The common room and dining room are empty, it seems that everyone is out or is being quiet in their rooms. Eren goes into his room and is met with an unpleasant amount of cologne and Jean. It seems like you can’t have one without the other. 

“Jean,” Eren acknowledges his existence before he digs into his gym bag in the pile of clothes amassing on his floor. 

“Eren,” Jean replies in an identical tone before he goes back to hanging his clothes up in the wardrobe. 

“Any plans?” Eren asks him just to make conversation, not that he cares. 

“I need to finish unpacking,” Jean says as if Eren should have already known that, “Then I will think about plans.” 

“Don’t let me hold you back,” Eren grabs his bag and throws it over his shoulder, “but if Mikasa or Armin come looking for me could you tell them I’m doing pliés and tendus until my legs fall off downstairs?” 

“I will, if I’m still here,” Jean goes back to folding his clothes, “I wouldn’t count on it though.” 

“Kay, cool,” Eren grumbles before he leaves and heads down to the studio. It's just him and a couple unfamiliar faces, he grips on to the barre and works on his technique for nearly two hours until Mikasa shows up with his tracksuit in hand. 

“You seem a bit down,” Eren says to her a few minutes into the jog. She usually likes to tell him about her day but today she is silent. She sighs and tells him what been bothering her, “Christa asked me if it would be ok for her to swap rooms with Ymir’s roommate.” 

“Oh,” Eren thinks about it, “now that you mention it, Christa and Ymir have been joined at the hip haven’t they?” 

“They sure have,” Mikasa doesn’t seem too enthusiastic about Christa’s proposal, “I think that I like having her as a roommate, she is basically a flawless human being from what I can tell,” Eren nods in agreement, “but Annie is Ymir’s roommate, I’m not sure how I feel about her. Christa told me she is almost never in her room because she is practicing 24/7, but I don’t know, I was starting to like the company.” 

“I don’t really like that Annie girl either,” Eren cringes, “she gives me the creeps, but hey, Christa would love you for it.” 

“I guess,” Mikasa groans, “how’s life with frosty tips boy?” 

Eren unloads the list he’s been carrying in his head, “he snores, he wears too much cologne, he has too much stuff, I think he wears makeup, he’s a jerk face and his hair pisses me off.” 

“I see, Did you ask Armin and Connie about switching?” 

“Nah,” Eren looks at his running feet, “Armin and Connie have been getting along so well, I hardly see them outside of class, I’d really hate to ruin their friendship. I’ll keep trying to put up with Frosty, and maintain my sanity.” 

The same night Eren struggles to fall asleep again, Jeans snoring and creepy night talking keeps him up. Eren puts his clothes on and goes for a walk in the building, its when he arrives at the same floor he was on last night that he hears the familiar music and sees the light under the door. Sure enough, Levi is in his pointe shoes and dancing around as if he dropped out of Erens wildest dreams. 

Eren comes back the next night, and the next, it becomes the only thing that helps him sleep at night. It's on the following Monday night that Eren comes once again to watch but he finds the room empty. He looks at the watch on his wrist, he is here a littler earlier than usual, perhaps he’s here too early and Levi hasn’t even shown up yet. Eren peers in the empty room to search for life. 

“Boo,” Levi pokes Eren in the ribs, Eren jumps sky high as Levi spins around him and ducks into the room, flicking the chandeliers on and illuminating the room. Eren stands there beyond petrified, he awaits some sort of lecture and severe punishment from his instructor but instead he is gestured to come in. 

Levi sits down on the floor and begins to put his shoes on, “you’re the one who’s coming to watch every night, aren’t you,” he ties the black grosgrain ribbons tightly around his ankles and taps the tip into the wood planks, “that’s kind of rude and makes you seem like a stalker you know.” His deep set steel gray eyes disarm Eren entirely. 

“I’m really sorry,” Eren can feel the sweat dripping down his back, “I have a hard time sleeping here. I know it's against curfew regulations, but walking for a bit helps.” 

“The only way I can fall asleep,” Levi leans on the barre, “is if I’m so physically drained that I just collapse. That’s why I come here every night, helps me take my mind off things for a bit,” he points at his eyes, ”That’s how I got these big dark circles.”

“But why the pointe shoes? I’ve been dying to ask,” Eren inquires boldly. 

Levi goes up en pointe and stretches his arms, “I like experimenting and I like the challenge,” he bows gracefully forwards to his invisible partner, “and it makes me taller. Since you’re here, do you want to see the whole thing I’ve been working on once I’m warmed up? Even though you’ve seen it before, but this time it won’t be though you’re little stalker port,” Levi refers to the window on the door, “I haven’t danced it for anyone yet.” 

Eren nods rapidly, the excitement swells in his chest, “yes, please. If it's not too much to ask.” He’s seen it enough times by now that he knows the whole routine by memory. To think that he could be the sole recipient of something so unique and so beautiful is overwhelming. When the music starts and Levi faces him, Eren sees the transformation spread from his body to his face. Dancers are always in pain, they suffer physically and mentally for their art but when it’s a performance even the most exausted and suffering dancers can fool the audience and themselves into thinking that absolutely nothing is wrong. Levi’s stern expression melts away, the worried and cross wrinkles of his face smooth revealing a much younger and expressive man under neither. Shivers of excitement run up Eren’s spine.

As Levi dances, Eren can feel the story being told by his body and his face. Eren hangs on his every move, the story that he thought was maybe one of love feels like one of loss. Eren can’t peel his eyes from him, the intimacy being presented before him makes him wonder who Levi made this for. Himself, a friend, a lover, or maybe someone who’s not around anymore. 

Levi doesn’t miss a single move and by the end, he kneels with the chest heaving and muscles shaking. The second the music stops his leg gives up on him and he falls to the ground. Eren instinctively rushes over to help him, but Levi sticks his palm out and tells him he’s fine. 

“Levi,” Eren gasps, his eyes grow wide when he sees a small spot of blood leaching through the man's white sweat soaked shirt, “you’re bleeding, you’re not ok.” 

Levi touches his chest. It stings to the touch, he flinches when he sees the blood coat his fingertips but he’s not surprised in the slightest. He sprawls out on the floor, “Did you like it?” he says in between labored breaths. Eren is confused, he helps the man to his feet, he’s much heavier than he looks. 

“It was amazing, I’ve never seen anything like it” Eren responds once Levi is standing on his own, “who did you make it for?” 

Levi coughs painfully, “not sure yet,” he says but Eren doesn’t buy it he can tell it was made for somebody, “but this looks like this is my body's way of telling me this is enough for today,” Levi continues, he goes to grab a clean black shirt out of his bag, “I still haven’t come up with a name, maybe you could help me come up with one, since you’ve seen it so many times.” He pulls his stained shirt off over his head is then that Eren understands the cause of his pain. His chest bears three long surgical scars that join together in a star just under his breastbone. It looks like he has been cut open and stitched back together like a cadaver. A section near his ribs looked like it was recently stitched up and tore open while he was dancing thus reopening the wound. 

Eren looks the other way as if he’s seen something he’s not meant to see. Levi looks back at him over his shoulder before getting down to take off his shoes, “It’s not as bad as it looks,” he says quietly, he didn’t mean to scare the kid, but that looks like that’s exactly what happened, “it breaks open all the time when I push myself, it's more annoying than anything.” 

Eren is silent, he doesn’t want to ask what happened. He doesn’t feel like he has the right or reason to know, “do you want me to help you bring your stuff back?” Eren offers. Levi looks paler than usual, and after watching him collapse like that Eren wants to make sure he gets home safely. Levi gets the cassette out of the studio tape deck and shoves it quickly into his jacket pocket. 

Levi shrugs, “I’m fine really,” he says shoving his things into his duffle bag, but upon picking it up he notices how weak he’s become, he sighs with defeat, “unless you don’t have anything better to do-“ 

Eren doesn’t have to be asked twice, he bends down to gather Levis things and holds them like a well-trained puppy. It’s almost cute, “Alright, let’s go then,” Levi says before shutting off the lights in the studio. Levi silently leads him out of the building and down the street. He assures Eren it's not far, but the closer they get to his apartment the more nervous Eren gets. 

“It’s this one,” Levi gestures to a modest low-rise brick and mortar building, “You think you can make it back on your own?” Eren passes him his things and nods, “I’m sure I’ll be fine.” 

Levi rifles through his bag until he finds and pen and paper, he writes a phone number on it and passes it back to Eren, “that’s my home phone, could you give me a call when you get back to the dorms? I’m still responsible for you after all, plus,” he yawns, “if you get killed and don’t phone me back I can at least go out to collect your body and hide it in my dead body room.” 

“Ok,” Eren puts the number in his pocket, he smiles knowing that he has Levi’s phone number, “Goodnight, I’ll see you Wednesday.” 

Levi puts his key in the door, “you’re not going to come back tomorrow night?” there is a hint of disappointment in his deep voice. 

“Oh,” Eren pauses, he scratches his neck, he hadn’t thought about that, “I guess if its ok with you.” 

“Good, bring your ballet shoes,” Levi waves to him, “call me when you get home.” He swiftly goes inside his apartment. Eren waves before spinning around on the balls of his feet. He can’t believe he has Levis number in his pocket, he wants to squeal like a school girl. He wants to get back and call him as quickly as possible, but not too quickly. He doesn’t want to seem too eager, after all, Levi is a mature individual. 

Eren skips home and doesn’t stop thinking about him for a second. The smoothness of his motions, the sweat that causes the hair to cling to his forehead, the expression he has when dancing, the toned muscles on his legs – Eren stops still in his tracks. He admires him a lot, but with so many images and thoughts prancing through his head, he wonders what name he should put to this feeling. He holds his chest, he’s never so much as had a crush on anyone in his life, much less a girlfriend or otherwise. With school, he never had a moment to think about any of those things. He’s scared, nervous but mostly horribly excited to see him tomorrow night. 

When Eren gets to the dorms he sits with the rotary phone in his lap and the phone number in his hand, he tries not to overthink when he dials the number slowly, “Hi-“ Eren begins to say. 

“You got home safe?” Levi yawns on the other end and rolls over in his bed, his voice sounds deeper and raspier over the phone, “You didn’t die, did you?” 

“No, I’m not dead,” Eren whispers tries to hold back his grin, and twirls the spiral phone cord between his fingers, “at least I don’t think so.” 

“Hey, Eren,” he breathes, Eren can hear him getting dressed or undressed, “can you keep everything that goes on at the studio a secret for me? If you can’t,” he says stiffly, “I’m afraid I’ll have to kill you.” Eren laughs under his breath, Levi’s dry humor is starting to grow on him. 

“I won’t tell a soul,” Eren nods, “I promise.” 

“Good boy,” Levi clears his throat and looks over at the person laying next to him to see the time on the clock, the person’s hand reaches out and gently pulls him closer, “now get to bed, you don’t want to be tired for Petra’s class tomorrow.” 

“Night,” Eren says quietly before the line goes quite and beeps hollowly. He sighs with relief and puts the phone back on the end table. It's bittersweet, having to keep it as a secret and all but Eren rolls around on the couch with a massive grin on his face before heading off to bed.


	4. Rumors

While Eren enjoyed the Monday night, it was the first night Mikasa was to share a room with Annie. The only reason she agreed to it was because it was so difficult to say no to Christa and those said pussy cat eyes of hers. Now after laying in awkward silence after lights out, she regrets it. 

Annie stays up late reading books this night, they’re all in Russian so Mikasa has no clue as to what they could possibly be about. She stretches on her bed while Annie gives her a quick side glance. Mikasa doesn’t have the slightest clue what to say to her. 

“What are you reading?” the words slip out of Mikasa’s mouth suddenly. 

Annie keeps her finger in the book to mark the page and looks at the cover, “it’s on the paranormal accounts,” she says with that accent she has. This is only the second time Mikasa has heard her speak since Mr. Ackerman forced them to introduce themselves. 

“Oh,” Mikasa didn’t expect that, “sounds interesting.” 

“Not really,” she puts a leather bookmark between the pages, “this library majorly lacks in Russian books.” 

“I could imagine,” Mikasa says with loose agreement. Annie turns off her bedside lamp and quickly falls asleep. In the silence, Mikasa can hear people talking outside their window and cars racing in the streets, back home is much more peaceful. Just the wind through the grass and trees, and crickets. But around midnight the silence returns. Mikasa still can’t sleep so she decides to go for a walk around the building. She was never one to believe in ghosts but in old buildings like this, anything was possible. She stops in the empty dormitory loby and sits by the window. Looking out and up into the starless cloudy sky she feels lonely. She feels homesick dispite being in a place she’s lusted after for years, it all feels so strange and foreign when compared to home. It's then that she catches Eren walking down on the ground by himself, she wonders what he could possibly be doing out in the street in the middle of the night. He skips out of sight, about three minutes later she can hear footsteps approaching. 

Knowing it's well past curfew she looks for some place to hide, but the room is bare and the person is almost here. She freezes still and holds her breath as if she didn’t exist, Eren passes by her and jogs up the stairs to the dorms. He didn’t even notice her. She goes back to resting and looking out the window. 

The following morning something about the class is different, Mrs. Ral has moved them off the barre and into the centre of the room. She tells them that this is part of the first test that is to be on Friday in Mr. Ackerman’s class. It's easy and routine choreography but she demands no less than perfection. It’s when they do jumps that Mikasa finds throwing her gracefully in the air to be difficult. She can get higher than anyone in the class, but what goes up must also come down and in this case, she comes down noisily and hard. 

“Miss. Ackerman,” Mrs. Ral stops the music, “you understand that every time you land it should be as silent as possible, not sounding like a bag of bricks.” 

“Yes, Mrs. Ral,” she wipes the sweat from her brow. 

“You could learn and thing or two from Miss. Leonhart,” she beckons Annie to come forwards and perform the jump in question. She is silent and graceful like a swan. Once Annie’s demonstration was over she looks over to Mikasa and smirks. Mikasa can feel her blood boiling. That smirk was no doubt a declaration of war. 

“Yes,” Mrs. Ral pats her on the back, “just like that. Remember, there is a time and place for everything,” she addresses the class but mostly Mikasa, “this is ballet, not gymnastics, figure skating, or a sport of any kind. Jumping higher or harder doesn’t give you higher scores during a performance, instead, it’s the relaying of a story and emotion that makes the performance good. This is an art form, without passion and beauty, you have nothing, keep that in mind on test day.” Once the grueling class is over, Mikasa grabs Erens and she storms out of the classroom. 

“Did you see that little smirk she had?” Mikasa spits when the two of them are alone in the stairwell, “can you believe that? I swear to God. I’m going to get the top marks in this class even if it kills me. Do you want to practice with me after dinner?” 

Eren shakes his head, “I think I should work on my school work, we just started chem and it's already kicking my butt, but I’ll go for that jog with you before curfew though.” Mikasa looks out the window and pouts, she can’t handle being second best. She was always the top student in her old school, but now it seems she has competition. She’s going to need to keep a straight head if she’s to keep her position. There is so much on her mind right now, and looking at Eren, she wonders if she should ask him about what he was doing out so late last night since he hasn’t mentioned anything of the sort to her. 

“How old do you think Mr. Ackerman is?” Eren asks suddenly, joining Mikasa in looking out the window. 

“I don’t know,” she clicks her tongue and throws out a number, “maybe twenty-seven, thirty tops. Why?”

“No reason,” Eren smiles faintly, Mikasa gives him a suspicious look, he yawns, “I should get going if I want to get to the library before it closes.” They say their goodbyes and part in opposite directions. In the library, Eren looks at books, but he can’t keep his mind off tonight. While Mikasa is in the studio trying to perfect her jumps, she can’t stop thinking about what Annie’s face will look like when she gets destroyed test day. 

“No wonder she doesn’t have any grace,” a girl whispers to another when Mikasa is in the shower, “have you seen the size of her arms and her twelve pack? I’ve never seen an Asian girl much less any ballet girl with so much muscle, it’s like totally freaky! Girls should be soft and strong but not completely shredded, it’s sooo weird,” The other one chimes in, “I know right? I feel so sorry for her dance partner, imagine lifting a girl like that! A sack of potatoes has more refinement,” they both giggle as they leave the shower room. Mikasa feels a rock sink in her stomach, they were talking about her. She looks at her arms, surely they’re larger than most of the other girls here but not freakishly large by any means. She tightens her hand into a fist, her trained muscles spring out as if mechanized. She drops the tension in her arm and leans against the shower wall, after Mrs. Rals lecture today, she’s starting to wonder if they’re right. 

When Eren gets back from the library with a stack of books Armin tells him that Mikasa won’t be going to the run tonight because she is going to the studio instead. They’ve been going on runs every night for nearly three years, it must be really serisous if she calls it off. Armin seems to have already become friends with everyone in the dorm, which surprisingly includes Annie. He has a host of people over in his and Connie’s room tonight just before curfew, for a friendly bit of chatting and gossip. Mikasa joins them late.

“My legs are killing me,” Sasha groans and leans hard on Connie, “I’ve never been in so much pain in my life. It’s Mr. Ral, I swear she picks on me so hard,” he flops over him like a rag doll, “life is so unfair.” 

“Tell me about it,” Christa takes one of her sister’s cookies out of the tin and returns to sit in Ymir’s lap, “it’s awful, but it will be worth it when we’re stronger dancers.” 

“I suppose so,” Sasha pouts, “It doesn’t feel like it now.” 

“What do you guys know about Mike and Nanaba?” Armin asks the group, “I saw them practicing outside, they’re crazy good. They’re third years, right? Think they’re going to get a spot in the company?”

“They already have one,” Ymir takes a sip of her coke, everyone looks surprised, “Soon as this semester is over they’ll be with the big wigs, that makes them the second youngest people to get into the company.” 

“Who’s the youngest?” Christa looks at her, “Do you know?” 

“Mr. Ackerman,” she says, there is a murmur in the room, “he was sixteen, the same age as us right now. He was a soloist right off the bat.” 

“I’d be lucky to get a corp de ballet contract after I graduate,” Sasha eats another one of Christa’s cookies, “we’re all sixteen, could you guys imagine dancing with the pros?” everyone shakes their head if anything being in school only made them feel more inadequate. 

“You know a lot about everyone it seems,” Annie’s voice from the door causes everyone to jump, but Ymir who stares her down, “what else do you know about Mr. Ackerman?” 

“I keep tabs on everyone, people say a lot when they think no one is listening,” Ymir shrugs nonchalantly, the cheerful atmosphere of the room goes dark and cold, Eren leans in, “what do you want to know?” she smiles faintly. 

“Why did he stop dancing?” Eren utters in the silence. 

“He got some sort of disease,” she speaks slowly now that everyone’s eyes are trained on her, “he had to stop dancing at twenty to go into surgery and he’s been teaching, doing rehab and poppin’ pills ever since. Erwin said he was the most gifted dancer to ever come to the academy. It’s almost a shame his dancing career is over.” 

“Wait,” Eren interjects again, “How old is he now?” 

“Not sure, I don’t know when his birthday is, maybe twenty-two or three. I’ve heard he’s a massive slut too,” she leans into the group, Eren swallows hard, “my best guess is that Erwin is the only person keeping him here, after all that drama its kind of strange that they’re always together still. But you didn’t hear that from me.” 

“After what happened?” Christa bites her nails. 

“Erwin’s marriage?” she says it like everyone should know what she’s talking about, but it’s clear that it’s not common knowledge, “Erwin’s wife tried to kill Levi after a company rehearsal, she had a knife and everything, it was never investigated they probably want to pretend it never happened so the company looks good. I think it’s pretty common knowledge that Erwin likes to bone his students and Levi likes to sleep around, putting two and two together it's not hard to see why she flipped out like that.” 

“Levi wouldn’t do something like that,” Eren stands up, everyone looks at him, “you’re lying.” 

Ymir looks at him through her brow, “that’s just what I’ve heard.” Eren gets up and leaves, he doesn’t want to hear another word of this, Mikasa follows him, “Wait up, Eren,” she trails after him until they get to his room and she shuts the door behind him. 

“You’re being weird,” she sits on Jean’s bed across from him, “What’s going on?” 

Eren puts his head into his hands, he knows Levi wouldn’t ruin a marriage just to sleep with someone. Ymir must be just making stuff up to impresses everyone, there is no way that she could know the gritty details of everyone’s personal lives. 

“Eren,” She reaches over and touches his shoulder, “you can talk to me.” 

“I’m just stressed out,” Eren grumbles, “there is too much drama here, it’s annoying. I don’t like it when people talk garbage about people they barely know.” 

Mikasa nods, “You got that right. We still got about 15 minutes before curfew if you want to go for that run.” 

It’s getting colder out here day by day as winter approaches, but breathing in the cool air feels good in their lungs. Eren can tell that something is on Mikasa’s mind, she keeps looking off into the distance with this sad expression.

“Hey, Mika-“ 

“Do you think I’m too muscular?” She cuts him off, not taking her eyes off the ground. 

“No?” Eren raises an eyebrow, he wonders where this is coming from, “I think you’re perfect. All those skinny bun-heads can’t do half the stuff you do.” 

“Now that I’m here,” she stops running to catch her breath, “it feels like my body is holding me back. I never felt like this before, but I think I need to loose weight if I want to stay competitive with the other girls. They’re right, no one will ever be able to lift me when we start partner work tomorrow.” 

“They? Who said that?” Eren pants, “I’ll fight them because they don’t know anything. I’ve lifted you how many times with no problem? You’re letting whispers get to your head. You’re a talented dancer, and people are just trying to tear you down.” She wants to listen to him, and believe his words, but it’s a struggle not to cave into the pressure. 

“All the girls here weigh 100-120 pounds’ tops, I’m 150, I weigh more than you,” she looks away from him, she doesn’t know why she’s getting so upset about this, “I know you can lift me, but when you do I see your arms shake,” her voice cracks as tears threaten to build in her eyes, she rubs her eyes and squats down on the ground, “I want to be optimistic about it, but after practicing and running through the same thing over and over again, I-I just can’t do it. I’m a land-whale compare to them.” She buries her face in her hands, and goes still. 

“Common’, don’t say that,” Eren gets down and hugs her. He’s never seen her this upset in years, this place is starting to get to both of them, “your strength is a gift, Mrs. Ral could see that, that’s why she picked you out of over one-hundred others right off the bat. Who cares what a few jealous girls have to say, you’ve worked harder than anyone and you deserve to be here.” His words make her feel better, but when they get back to the dorm the inspiration is short lived. Her stomach grumbles for a snack before bed, she usually eats but this time she holds off. 

“You’re late,” Levi says to Eren’s reflection in the studio mirrors, he’s doing pirouettes and counting each one, he’s already up to eleven. 

“Sorry,” Eren drops his bag at the door, “my roommate was talking to his mom on the phone forever, I couldn’t leave until he was gone. That kid has a big mouth.” 

Levi stops spinning and leans forwards with his hands on his hips to catch his breath, “well, get your ballet shoes on and warm up.” 

“Yes, Sir,” Eren slips into his shoes and takes off his sweater. Eren’s obedience comes much welcome after Levi spent all morning trying to teach the preschool class since the instructor called in sick. Eren watches Levi out of the corner of his eye, he can’t help but wonder if what Ymir said was actually true. 

“Come over here,” Levi beckons him over after his warm, “I’ve been trying to do a proper arabesque penché on my own for weeks now, would you be my barre?”

Eren nods and he feels his hands go clammy when he approaches the man. Eren’s done this move with a partner more times than he can recall, he knows he shouldn’t be nervous about it but he is. He takes Levi’s slender hips in his hands and waits for him to find his balance, “you have done pas de deux before, haven’t you?” Levi repositions Eren’s warm hands to suit his body. Eren’s hands soak into the muscles below his clothes. Levi’s groin is pressed up against Eren as he leans over slightly, having him this close makes Eren’s heart race. 

“Yes, I have before, Sir,” Eren stammers. 

“Good,” Levi goes up en pointe with his right foot and raises the other slowly until it points to the ceiling. His overgrown undercut falls forwards and shrouds his face, he pulls his hair behind his ears to get a good look at two of them. He looks at Eren first, Eren looks petrified, then he looks at himself, it feels as unnatural as it looks, “You know, you’re talking so formally today, Eren,” Levi laughs lightly, “I’m your partner right now, not your teacher. It wouldn’t hurt to loosen up a bit.” 

Erens not really sure where to keep his hands at first, unlike a female partner, Levi doesn’t have much to grab on to. He’s straight all the way up and all the way down, no natural handles anywhere. On top of that, Levi is also having trouble keeping his balance, he comes down from pointe and lowers his other leg half way. He stretches his leg behind him, he’s visibly in pain, “What do you think it is?” Levi asks rhetorically, “Think my back isn’t flexible enough?” Eren notices the sweat forming on his neck. 

“I’m not sure,” Eren assists him in doing it again, Levi is still struggling with it. He’s starting to wonder if there are some physical limitations placed upon a man's body to do such things, but thankfully Eren helps him maintain his balance while he tries to straighten his body out as much as possible. Eren can’t keep his eyes off him, watching him struggle and strain to try to reach perfection has a hint of eroticism to it. Without knowing it, he sinks his fingers deeper into his hips. 

“Maybe instead of just grabbing my hip,” Levi comes back to standing, “You could grab my free thigh and my stomach instead?” Eren nods vivaciously. He bends over a little bit to support his solid core, and with his other hand, Eren supports his thigh closer to Levi’s knee than groin. He doesn’t want to get too close as to make this situation weirder than it already is, plus Eren doesn’t know if he could handle an accidental slip up. 

Levi goes back up en pointe, he finds it much easier to balance now that he’s not using so much energy keeping his torso angled, “Move your hand closer, I can hold my knee up fine,” Eren’s hand inches down closer, “closer,” Erens hand moves a tiny bit closer, “closer,” Levi orders again, but clearly Eren isn’t getting the picture, “right to my nuts, Eren, don’t be shy.” Eren’s ears light up bright red as his hand slides flush to Levi’s groin, “that’s better. You know,” Levi tries to organize his muscles in a way that straightens out his lines, “you really are the perfect height for me. Help me straighten my free leg, force it up.” 

Eren hesitates to push but when he does he can tell he’s inflicting pain on him, “is that too much?” 

Levi closes his eyes and winces, “make it hurt, alright? For twenty.” Eren counts the time in his head, stretching will always be painful but this is almost barbaric. Levi’s body shakes slightly to overcome the pain and weakness in his muscles and tendons. Eren swears he can almost feel Levi’s pain as if it was his own. It’s a relief to both them of when the twenty seconds is up. Levi shakes out his legs nods with satasfaction , “that was good,” he straightens his tights and dance belt, “you kind of nicked my balls though when you brought me down, I probably can’t have children anymore.” 

“Sorry,” Eren pulls his shirt up to wipe the sweat off his face and hands. 

“I don’t mind,” Levi says slowly as his eyes tracethe muscles on Eren’s exposed stomach, “you’re probably not used to working with guys I could imagine,” he quickly turns his head the other way. 

“No,” Eren laughs nervous and drinks some water, he feels as though he’s being tested, “not normally.” 

“For class tomorrow,” Levi gets a towel and dabs the sweat off his face, “I want to put you with Annie for pas de deux, she’s really talented and I think you’d physical be a good match with her, but I was thinking of putting you with Sasha if you wanted. I’ve seen you two talking in class, you seem to get along better with her than with Annie,” he goes back to stretching, “but since you’re my current favorite, I’ll let you pick.” The word ‘favourite’ catches on Eren’s ear, he’s never been anyone’s favourite anything. 

“Annie is fine,” Eren shrugs, and tries to play it off, “it doesn’t matter. But I thought teachers aren’t supposed to play favourites?” Eren teases him softly, he earns a slight grin out of his instructor. 

“All teachers play favourites, ballet boy,” Levi cocks his head, “I’m just the only one who’s honest about it. I’ll put you with Annie then, I think you’ll make a great team,” he gets up, “you know my routine for Debussy by now I’m sure, you want to be my barre again and we can run through the whole thing once and call it an early night? I’m beat.”   
Eren agrees to it, Eren wants to dance with this person more than he’s ever wanted to dance with anyone else. Making lines with him, supporting him, touching his body, all things he didn’t think he wanted until now. Where the song is slowed and dimmed their faces accidently brush during a pirouette, Eren takes a shaky deep breath in. 

“If it's too hard for you,” Levi hesitates, “or if you get uncomfortable, you’ll tell me, right? I’m sure I’m a lard-ass compared to the pretty girls you’re used to dancing with, I wouldn’t want to you pull something.” 

“Of course,” Eren assures him, even though he can feel the strain in his shoulders. It’s sore but it’s not horrible, if anything he will suffer though it to become stronger next time. Compare to when he was performing for Eren the other day, Levi’s expression is as it normally is, his expressive eyes and mouth are gone, but from what Eren notices after only dancing with him for less than an hour is that his body is much easier to read than his face. When he moves, it is as if he wants to be understood and responded too. His body beckons to Eren in ways that words or facial expression could never do. Eren feels as though he can predict his partner's moves before he makes them and easily correct his problems with the angle of his wrist. 

He’s heard of pairs of dancers who have sex together to try to increase their bond and to better increase the understanding of each other’s bodies. Sometimes they try for years and years to make it work, but in some cases it never does. Eren wonders if it's just because he’s dancing with someone who isn’t his sister, he’s paired danced with her and only her for years now, so, understandably he has never felt like this. As Eren leans over Levi to dip him back, it feels smooth and easy like the most natural thing in the world, he wonders if Levi feels the same way. 

“You’re really good,” Levi struggles to catch his breath, “Mr. barre.” 

Eren laughs tiredly, “Mr. Barre, huh?” 

“That’s your new nickname, ballet boy,” Levi gets down to take off his shoes, “I’m afraid I’ve filled out the nickname form already and it's on its way to the state office, you’ll just have to live with it.” Eren tries to hold back his grin as he instinctively gathers up their things and puts them in the corresponding bags. Levi doesn’t ask Eren if he could help him carry his stuff back to his apartment, Eren does it himself. He doesn’t tell him that today he can manage just fine but instead he allows Eren to perform his chosen duties. 

“Thanks for tonight,” Levi says in a leveled tone, once they get to his apartment, he takes slow and light steps up the stairs, “I feel like I’m starting to get the hang of it now, the whole pointe shoe thing with you’re help.” 

“Good, I’m glad I could help,” Eren’s sweet puppy-like demeanor tugs on Levi’s heart strings, “I’ll see you in class tomorrow then?” 

“Yeah,” Levi nods and swallows, his key is half way in the door when Eren starts walking away, “Wait a sec,” Levi calls out to him in the darkened street, self-doubt is evident in his voice, “you don’t want to come up for a bit, do you?” After tonight, Levi is feeling all sorts of ways and all he can think about is spending more time with his new dance partner. 

“Oh,” Eren turns around, he’s surprised and a little lost of words, “sure, if it’s ok with you.” 

“I wouldn’t ask you if it wasn’t,” Levi opens the door wider so Eren can get past. Erens heart is racing when he follows him up the creaky stairs, “let me get your coat for you,” Levi reaches out and helps Eren take off his jacket and hang it in the closet before he does the same with his own. 

Levi takes a moment to study Erens eyes and his face, before walking into the kitchen, he puts a pot of water on the stove, “do you mind if I take a quick shower?” Levi asks, though it's not like Eren would say no, “I’m going to die if I don’t take all this dance sweat off,” he adds. 

“Of course not,” Eren sits himself down on the barstools in front of the counter when Levi disappears around the corner. Eren fiddles with his fingers and tries to fix his hair, he wonders why Levi would bring him back here so suddenly, he can tell that Levi didn’t plan on it because he didn’t even turn any of the lights on except the light over the stove and the gas flame if that counts. He gazes around Levi’s apartment, it’s a single bedroom and bare. It looks like he never bothered to buy any furniture and just kept all the show furniture. It's all impressively tidy as if it's never even been lived in. 

After a few minutes he returns sparkling clean but wearing his same clothes because he didn’t grab any clean ones from this room on the other side of the apartment, he walks over to the stove and shuts the gas off, even though the water isn’t nearly done being boiled, he stands there for a moment, facing the pot, “Do you like dancing with me?” Levi asks quietly fearing rejection. 

“I do,” Eren stands up suddenly, knocking the adjacent stool over. They both rush over to pick it up, their hands brush in the process. Levi doesn’t know why he does it but its then he leans over and kisses Erens unsuspecting lips. Levi has been dying to touch Eren all night, it’s not fair that when they dance Eren gets to do all the touching. Eren returns the kiss with muted hesitation, his heart flutters as Levi’s weight lowers him to the floor. Levi can feel Eren’s nervousness and inexperience, the way he quivers slightly to every touch, and forgets to breath and open his mouth when they kiss. 

Levi’s fingers creepy under Erens shirt and touch his reeling abdomen, he’s sensitive here, every motion Levi makes on his stomach draw out restricted moans. Levi would be lying if he said the prospect of having Eren pinned to the ground didn’t make the blood rush to his genitals. The bright red tips of Erens ears are as edible as the labored breaths and subdued moans slipping past his lips. Eren pulls Levi back into a heated kiss, after dancing with him he wants to kiss him like this forever, but Levi has other plans. He’s not compeltly for doing this so suddenly on the kichen floor, but he is too in the moment to think to bring him to the bedroom. 

“This is ok,” Levi asks in a pur as he pulls off Eren’s shirt, “Right?” Those big green shimmering eyes that caught his attention on the first class look shyly at him. Eren’s stiff body isn’t as readable as Levis, but his eyes speak before his mouth does, “yeah,” he nods timidly. They embrace each other tightly and Levi gropes at Eren’s heat through his leggings, Eren’s thighs instinctively encase Levi’s hand and bring it closer. Eren doesn’t have the faintest idea of what could come, he’s never thought much about what two guys could do together in a situation like this. But just having Levi bite his neck and stroke him makes him feel over the moon, it all feels too good. His whole body turns to jelly when Levi’s hand reaches under his dance belt.

A glass hits the floor and shatters into a million pieces behind them. They both jump and turn towards the noise. Standing where the glass fell is the Dean, Erwin Smith, he looks just as petrified at the sight of them as they must look at the sight of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ooooo shit


	5. Judgements

Erwin is wearing nothing but shorts, he must have been sleeping in the bedroom and woke up to get a glass of water. Eren shoves Levi off of him, he thinks about what Ymir said. A slut who ruins marriages, Eren tried not to believe it, he didn’t want to spoil the image he had of Levi but what else could possibly explain what was going on here. Levi calls after him, begging him to stay so he could explain but Eren won’t have none of it as he tries to get his clothes back on, “I should have listened to them!” Eren screams painfully with a broken heart, the tears welling up in his eyes, “I don’t want to ever talk to you again!” Levi watches hopelessly as Eren scrambles to leave, he knows better than to force him to stay. As Eren runs home he can’t believe he was stupid enough to fall for Levi’s false visage. Why did the first person who he’s ever had feelings for have to use him like this in this terrible turn of events? 

The time Eren gets back to the dorms he realizes he left his duffle bag on the floor of Levi’s apartment, which has his keys, has to crawl into a ground floor window just to get inside. In his room, Jean is still fast asleep but Eren can hardly contain the pain from having his heart broken so suddenly. His quiet sobbing is enough to pull Jean from his sleep. 

“Finally realized you’re never going to be as good as me?” Jean whispers over Eren’s crying. 

“Piss off, frosted tips, you lame-o mouth-breather!” Eren throws his pillow at him with all the energy he has to spare, which isn’t very much after running home in tears. Jean sits up to catch it, “should I get your sister for you so she can rub your back and read you a picture book?” 

“Leave me alone,” Eren pulls his sheets over his head. Eren continues to sob and Jean grumbles as he rubs his eyes, it’s well after midnight and he gets the feeling Eren is going to go on like this all night. He has no idea what happened, but even so he has a touch of sympathy for him. Just a touch. 

“I’m going to go get something to drink,” Jean stretches before he leaves the room. Several minutes later, he returns still to find Eren crying, “Here,” Jean nudges the Eren ball. When Eren uncoils himself he sees Jean holding two cups of hot chocolate topped with marshmallows. Eren hesitantly takes one, he hiccups and drinks some of it. 

“You look like shit,” Jean throws Erens pillow back to him and sits in his own bed. 

“You look like shit too yourself, Jean,” Eren holds the cup with both of his hands, it tastes sweet and homemade, like something his mom would have made for him when he was a child. At least for the time being, it's pleasant enough to stop him from crying like a fool. Eren takes another sip before setting it down and sighing. 

“Does this have something to do with you leaving every night?” Jean asks and Eren freezes in his place, “I may be a heavy sleeper but I’m not blind. Most people don’t sleep in their street or dance clothes. If your girlfriend or whoever broke up with you, and that’s why you’re sad, everyone knows that relationships never last in this place.” 

Eren groans, he’s heard this all before from Mikasa and even out of his own mouth, “Yes, Jean, I know that now,” he gets back into bed and pulls the cover over his head, “I didn’t expect it to last, but it's twice as annoying because I have to see his stupid face every day-“ Eren freezes, his, they both heard it. Eren feels as though he might have just dug his own grave, it feels like the beginning of the end, he curses himself and curls up tightly. Jean gives Eren a long look before shrugging and trying to go back to bed, he really couldn’t give less of a shit of what goes on in Eren’s sad excuse for a dating life, “you’re done crying now, right? Because it was starting to get weird.” 

“Go to bed, Frosty,” Eren grumbles and shifts around in his bed, “and thanks for the hot chocolate.” Jean mumbles something before turning in. 

The following morning Eren drinks the rest of the hot chocolate from last night with a bit of coffee mixed in for breakfast, “Where is your bag?” Mikasa asks Eren as they head downstairs, “I must have left it in the library the other day,” he stammers, “at least I got extra clothes and shoes.” 

“That’s too bad,” she checks her wristwatch as they hurry to class, “they don’t open for another hour, hopefully, it’s still there or in the lost and found.” 

“Hopefully,” Eren gets into the class and heads straight to the barre, completely ignoring Levi who’s sitting all high and mighty in his chair reading the morning press. Eren spots his duffle bag beside Levi’s in the far side of the room, for a split second he makes eye contact with Levi, but he quickly looks away as if it was by mere coincidence. 

Levi gets up from his chair and head to the board with a ringed binder in his hand, he writes Pas De Deux at the top in that neat cursive of his followed by his chosen pairs of students. He calls the class over and they excitedly chat about the pairs, everyone seems to be pleased with it. It goes: Bertholdt with Ymir, Reiner with Mikasa, Jean with Sasha, Eren with Annie followed by Connie and Armin with Christa. 

“From now on, on Wednesdays, we will be focusing on everything Pas de Deux,” he paces in front of the class, he looks around the room, “could anyone tell me what most important thing to remember for Pas de Deux?” 

He calls on Christa, “Love?” she hopefully bats her eyes. 

“No,” he frowns and points to Jean. 

“Strength? Balance? For the lifts?” Jean shrugs. 

“No, what about you Connie? What’s important?” 

“Making the girl look pretty?” Connie says as quickly as he is called upon, if Levi was holding the chalk still it would be dust in his hands. 

“Eren?” Levi turns to Eren with a heavy gaze, Eren returns the gaze, “It’s trust,” Eren clears his throat loudly and looks away, “everybody knows that.” Levi can tell that Eren is still bitter about last night, but he goes on as if he’s not bothered by it. 

“Good,” Levi writes and double underlines trust on the board, “Pairs who are in love don’t necessary make better dancers, if anything love complicates things when there is a breakup or a partner change. If you are all lucky enough to have careers in dance, you’ll be dancing with many people who you may or may not be fond of, and even people who don’t speak the same language as you and you can’t let any of that hold you back. While strength maybe always a useful commodity in dance, since it’s a big part of lifting a girl up gracefully as if she’s as light as platter of horderves,” Eren wonders what kind of logic that is, “it does not help if you cannot trust the person you’re dancing with,” he pulls over a chair and straddles it, “the danseur’s main role is to support the girl, and, since you brought it up,” he says with air quotes, “to make her look pretty, as well as weightless but it’s the confidence built on practice, communication to solve problems and trust that seals it all together, these combined allow her to move freely and feel secured with whatever they’re doing, so,” he stands up, “we’re going to work on some trust building exercises, not trust falls but some simple penché’s, whatever kind you feel comfortable doing in your pair.” 

They awkwardly all stand up and shuffle to their partner. Levi always likes watching this part best, some students look visibly nervous or uncomfortable while others dive right into it, “boys,” Levi talks as he walks around the class and looks at their positions, “keep in mind that normally she’s wearing pointe shoes while you’re flat on the ground or demi-point, you need to make sure she’s balanced. Secondly, for all of you,” he zeros in on Reiner and Mikasa, who are performing the task with ease, “if something feels weird, tell your partner. I’m sure few of you are psychics, so listen to what they say and what their body says,” Levi firmly repositions Eren’s arm on Annie’s waist, it annoys Eren, “Don’t be shy about it, never forget that you’re a team. Work with each other.” 

Eren internally and externally scowls at Levi. After crying last night his heartbreak has dissolved and all that remains is anger and bitter distrust. If this wasn’t an important class Eren wouldn't have shown up at all. Throughout the whole class, the two of them keep a steady eye on each other as if waiting for the other to snap under the pressure. 

Levi teaches them a section of the White Swan Pas De Deux as featured in Swan Lake. He knows all the solos from nearly all popular ballets by heart as if he’s danced them a thousand times. He can recite and instruct them with ease off the fly. It’s a skill he’s had ever since he was a child, to memorize facts was a challenge but choreography is as easy and as natural as breathing but it’s a bit of a challenge to some of the students and he calls a short break. 

“Eren,” Levi calls him away from Armin during the break, Eren doesn’t seem to happy about it but he darkly strides towards, “I think this is yours, you forgot it in the gym,” Levi passes it to him, he searches Eren’s eyes for something, for anything but all he gets is a glare and the bag snatched out of his arms. Levi rubs the bridge of his nose, it doesn’t seem like Erens forgave him in the slightest. 

Eren opens his bag to check if everything is still there when he finds a note if familiar cursive writing, “we need to talk,” it reads, “come to my office after class.” Eren looks at Levi from across the room, he’s sifting through his binder, Eren furiously crumples up the note and shoves it back in his bag. 

After class Eren goes to Levi’s office, “What’s this about?” Eren barks, he isn’t interested in hearing an explanation from Levi, he has already come to his own conclusions.

Levi’s office is just as bare and unlived in as his apartment, he gestures for Eren to sit down across from him, but Eren silently refuses, “Eren,” Levi signs, he has given a lot of thought as to what he wants to say to him all day and night but now as he talks he throws all that out the window, “I’m sorry about last night,” he says earnestly, his pride is usually too much to give out apologies but this time he bites it back, “I didn’t mean to put you in that situation, I had no idea Erwin was there.” 

Eren scoffs and walks around Levi’s office, inspecting the plainness of the whole thing, “so, he just broke in, took off his clothes and jumped into your bed? To what, murder you? That seems totally plausible.”

Levi rubs his temples again, he knows how this all must sound but he has to try to get Eren to understand, to not be forgiven would crush him, “he has keys to my place, but only because he doesn’t want to sleep at his own place.” 

“At least you’re being honest now,” Eren spits, he’s running out of patients for this.

“When have I ever lied to you?” Levi questions as he stands up and leans forwards over his desk, “you won’t even listen to me.” 

“I don’t know,” Eren laments with sarcastic laughter, “maybe when you came on to me but left out that you were banging the Dean and I was stupid enough to think you actually liked me. You’re just like what people say about you.”

“But I do like you,” Levi shouts abruptly, “If I didn’t I wouldn’t be trying to make it right with you. I was never with Erwin, the only reason he comes over is because he’s going through a really hard time with his wife and he needs someone to talk to. I’m not going to just abandon him,” Levi’s voice fills with vulnerability, he hates that he’s become so desperate but it seems like Eren brings that part of him out, “like people have abandoned me. Whatever you heard about me it’s not true, I’m not anything like what people say I am.” He knows what people say, they’re all jealous of his talent and power, so they say things to try to tarnish his image. Normally, he couldn’t care less and even thrives off their bitter hatred, but this time is different. 

Erens swallows dryly, his stubbornness overwhelms his empathy, “you’re making that hard for me to believe.” The unlocked door to his office creaks open, a second-year girl looks at the two of them and leans into the room, “Should I come back?” 

Eren gives one final disapproving look to Levi, “No, it’s fine,” he throws his duffle bag over his shoulder and turns his back to Levi, “I was just leaving.” Eren doesn’t want to give this whole situation a second thought. It makes him far too angry at this point. He skips his academic classes and instead goes to the studio. He knows there is no point of going to class when he’s too angry to listen, he will just get the notes from Mikasa or Armin later. 

When class is let out Mikasa runs into Eren at the studio by chance. She can tell by the creases in his face and the look in his eyes that he’s bothered by something, she doesn’t ask him about it. Eren decides he’s not going to go back at night to go see Levi like he was before, he knows he’s being childish about it but he wants to stop Levi from being a distraction. A good distraction or a bad distraction, he won’t stand for it. By Saturday, everyone gets up early to see the marks posted on Levi’s office for the dance test that took place on Friday. Mikasa grabs Eren’s arm and forces her way through the crowd. She drags her eyes from list to list, when she see’s her name she takes a heavy step back, “YOU’VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME.” 

“Hey, look,” Eren beams and pats himself on the back, “I got the highest mark, 91%,” it’s then that he notices Mikasa fuming, if she was a cartoon smoke would be spurting out of her eye sockets, “What is it?” She points to her name on the paper with the fury of 100 men, Eren looks at it with astonishment, “98%, congrats!” 

“Look again,” she shoves him closer, he peers at it. Her name is under Annie’s but both of them received an identical grade, 98%. She’s never been so insulted in her entire life. 

“Oh,” Eren whispers meekly now seeing why she was upset by it, “it’s a good grade, it doesn’t matter if you both got the same grade does it?” 

“It matters,” she storms away and Eren trails after her, “this is ridiculous, surely one of use had to have outperformed the other, I want the breakdown of the grades and the rubric, let’s go have a chat with Mr. Ackerman.”

Erens come to a grinding halt, he has no intention of going to Levi about this, “Just accept the grade, it’s good,” he pulls her off to the side to pled with her, “maybe there is another way to settle the score? You can’t have a knife fight to the death like in the movies?”

Her eyes widen and narrow, it looks like she has an idea and judging by the look in her eyes it’s a terrible idea, Eren immediately regrets his words, “I changed my mind, whatever you’re going to do, don’t do it,” Eren tugs on her as she strides away from him, “Mikasaaaaaa,” he whines, it’s far too early in the morning for this.

Annie and the others have returned to the common room and are watching Star Wars for no apparent reason, The Imperial March plays triumphantly as Mikasa addresses her opponent, “Annie,” Mikasa’s shout jostles the unsuspecting ears, “I’m challenging you do a dance off tonight to see who is the best girl.” Eren groans and slams his hand into his face, why does she have to be like this?

Everyone eyes drift between them with confusion, Annie gives her a long hard look before she pulls the Tootsie pop out of her mouth and simply says, “No, I did better than you that’s all there is to it,” and puts the sucker back in her mouth. 

Mikasa’s fists turn into hot balls of fury, “You?” she scoffs, she can’t believe the words coming out of her mouth, “Did better than me? Last time I checked we had the same grade.” 

“Yes, but,” Annie leans forwards and crosses her arms, her matter of fact voice splits Mikasa’s last nerve, “my name was above yours, no?” 

“That doesn’t mean anything,” Mikasa barks, her words come out with bitter slander, “if anything you’re worse than me, you weren’t good enough for your last school, right? That’s why you’re here, isn’t it?”

Annie freezes stiff, her shadowed eyes slowly look up at Mikasa with loathing. She throws her hood over her head and storms out the door like a hurricane, slamming her dorm room behind her. Everyone’s eyes snap from the hall to Mikasa, she didn’t think about what she said when she was saying it, it was just like she lost her filter for a second. Mikasa walks out of the room, leaving Eren in front of the television. Eren looks nervously in both directions and runs off after Mikasa. 

After going out to eat and trying to enjoy their day off, it's the Sunday where Mikasa’s anger returns and with it comes a thunderstorm outside. In the room of girls, Mikasa stretches at the head of the barre as she does her best to ignore Annie who is directly behind her while the wind howls and throws rain drops like rocks at the floor to ceiling windows

“You mind moving up?” Annie asks threateningly, “You’re taking up the whole thing.” 

“I didn’t realize I was in your way,” Mikasa replies in a sing-song voice, she has no plan on moving an inch, “Bolshoi*.” 

Annie goes back to stretching, the veins pop diagonally out of her neck and forehead. It takes her entire being not to throw Mikasa to the ground. When class begins the bitter rivalry between the two only increases. They throw themselves higher into the air, exaggerate the motions and glare at each other at every opportunity. An hour through the class the tape player stops working, after trying to turn it on and off several times it turns out the extension cord got chewed apart by mice during the night, “Any volunteers to get another cord from the basement? Mrs. Ral asks the class out of frustration, a furious of thunder makes everyone jump. 

“I will-“ 

“I will-“ 

Annie and Mikasa speak at the same time both leaping at the opportunity to leave a positive impression on their instructor, “Miss. Leonhart,” Mrs. Ral speaks, “if you could.”  
Annie changes into her wet street shoes and sprints off down the hall. Mikasa grumbles and the class continue practicing on their own in the silence until it seems as though she’s taking a little too long. She’s been gone fifteen minutes already and the class is getting anxious only dancing to the roar of the wind and claps of thunder and lightning.

Mrs. Ral looks impatiently at her wrist watch, “Perhaps you could go see what the trouble is, Miss. Ackerman,” she gestures towards Mikasa, “since you were so eager to help earlier.” 

“Yes, Ma’am,” Mikasa heads off after Annie. The supply room is in the basement of the building. Given that it’s Sunday, the whole place is eerily empty, given that most of the students are only here during the weekdays and don’t live here. Mikasa whistles as she quickly opens and closes the door to the storage room, she’s expecting to see Annie still rummaging through piles of things to try to find the correct cord but instead she’s met with a massive room packed full of endless junk and old costumes and sets with no Annie in sight. 

Mikasa stands on her tippy toes to look around, lots of stuff but still no Annie. It’s when she gets halfway to the end of the room that a movement catches her eye. It’s Annie sitting on what was probably an old throne used in Hamlet, only her eyes are stained with tears but the extension cord is wrapped around her hand as if to be used as a weapon. Mikasa unknowingly takes a step back upon seeing her. 

The second the two look at each other Annie shoots up from her seat and ferociously rubs her eyes. Without giving Mikasa so much as a second look, she rushes to the door and jiggles the handle, “I can’t believe this.” 

“We’re locked in?” Mikasa bangs on the door several times causing her hand to quickly grow sore, the door and the door frame are both made solid steel. Who knows what this room was before it was made into the ballet school junk room. Mikasa’s best guess is a bomb shelter by the looks of things, places like this get extra moist when it rains and today is no exception. Just being down here makes Mikasa’s skin crawl.

“Mrs. Ral sent me here to get you, she thought you died,” Mikasa announces as Annie paces nervously back and forth. 

“Thank you for the rescue,” Annie shouts sarcastically, this is the most on edge Mikasa has ever seen her, “what could I possibly have done without you.” 

Mikasa taps her shoe on the concrete, “I’m sure someone will come and get us out of here in, they’re all twiddling their thumbs up there. Maybe sit down or something,” Mikasa says with held back concern, “You’re freaking me out.” 

Before Annie can get another word in, there is an electric crack as loud as lightning and in that same second the whole room goes pitch black and the alarm bell rings. Annie dives for the ground, pulling herself into as small a ball as possible. Mikasa can’t see anything but she can hear Annie whimpering, in a place like this she could almost be a ghost. 

“We’re never going to get out of here,” Annie cries, her lungs don’t feel as though they’re taking in the proper amount of air, “The building is on fire and we’re locked in here. We’re going to suffocate!” The idea of being locked inside a metal room is terrifying, but knowing something is happening outside and not knowing what only makes her mind even more fearful. 

Mikasa wonders if this is the same person she was challenging in class only a few minutes ago, she’s a complete wreck. Mikasa sighs and sits down on the cool floor, “They’re going to get us out, we just have to be patient.” 

“I feel like I’ve been down here for hours,” she sobs hopelessly. Mikasa frowns, if Annie wasn’t suffering like this Mikasa wouldn’t miss the opportunity to tease her about how she’s acting but now she just feels horrible. She wishes that she didn’t close the door behind herself when she got down here but she also knows that there was no way she could have known. 

“The power is probably off because of the storm outside,” Mikasa speaks the same way she speaks when Eren gets panicky, which happens frequently. Usually, he doesn’t know why he is thrown into a panic, it just happens out of the blue and suddenly leaves him shaking and struggling to breathe. But this is different, it is clear to see what is causing her anxiety, “this building is ancient probably only takes a bit of water in the wrong place to cause all of this. I’m sure we will get let out soon.” 

“I need to get out of here now,” Annie shuts her eyes tightly, the back of her eyelids feel more spacious than the pitch black room. 

“I’m sorry you’re feeling this way,” Mikasa says quietly over the distance alarm bell. 

“Me too,” Annie laughs pessimistically through her tears, she would rather die than be in this situation again, “and in front of you off all people. You’re going to tell everyone, won’t you? All about the tiny Vaganova* drop-out and how afraid she is of everything, oh, how funny this must all be for you.” 

Mikasa hangs her head, Annie’s words tear at Mikasa’s own self-image. She wonders if she really seems like the kind of person who would talk about others like that. It’s kind of heartbreaking in a way. Mikasa wipes her forehead, with the power off the room has no ventilation and she can feel the temperature creeping up as a minutes pass, “I’m not going to tell anyone, I just want to get out of here just like you. I’m just-“ she cuts herself off from saying anything else in fear of giving away too much. 

“You just what?” Annie urges her to finish her sentence. 

Mikasa bites back her pride, “I’m just jealous, alright?” she blurts out, it’s unexpecting to both of them, “I was the best in my old school for a long time, and then BAM, here you are showing me up making everything look easy. I’m just some muscular freak, I mean,” she scoffs at herself, “Eren could barely lift me, I’m not dainty enough to be a soloist, the best I can hope for is a spot in the corp de ballet of some nobody modern company. I should have just stuck with rhythmic gymnastics.” 

Annie is silent, she keeps her head buried in her shaking knees. She thought that Mikasa hated her, after all, in Annie’s mind Mikasa was the superior dancer and person. Annie too has been horribly jealous of Mikasa, namely her friend-pool, which greatly surpasses her own. Seeing her smiling and spending time with others only makes her feel more lonely. It appears they both let the competition go to their heads by jumping to conclusions about the other. They both feel a little silly. 

Annie rubs her eyes, “I always wanted to do rhythmic gymnastics, my mom wouldn’t allow it, she said I wouldn’t have had a chance, it’s so competitive in Russia so I did ballet instead. Not that it’s much better. But at least that way if I was not the best of the best, I could probably still have a job.” 

“I’m the opposite,” Mikasa’s eyes are adjusting a bit to the darkness, she peers around the room, “my dad wanted me in gymnastics for a hobby, I wanted to take ballet but I didn’t have much say, but since I did really well in the class for my 8th birthday he let me take a ballet class once a week, and that’s where I met Eren.” 

“I thought he was your brother,” Annie hiccups, talking about something other than their situation is helping pull her away from the trapped feeling she had earlier, “Your parents got married?” 

Mikasa shakes her head, though Annie can’t see, “he was just this funny looking boy in my class,” she thinks fondly of him when he was little, his missing front teeth and lanky figure. He was so unsociable and grumpy, even back then he was determined to be the best, “since we were so much better than everyone else there we spent all our time together just practicing, mostly at his house since his parents turned part of their basement into a dance studio. Our parents became friends since I was always over there,” she pauses and takes a deep breath, talking about these things never comes easy, “my parents were killed in a break-in, I was at Erens when it happened. I didn’t have any other family, so the Jaegers offered to take me in.” She could recall the day she came back, finding the front door unlocked and their bodies on the kitchen floor with blood running between the tiles. It was horrible and the image still retained like a scar in her memories. She shivers, the thought of it all still makes her sick and heart broken. Annie is shocked and can’t find the right words so she says nothing. 

Mikasa stretches her arms, “I’m glad that I knew Eren, the Jaegers were so welcoming. Without them and without dance I don’t know where I would be right now.”

“I’m glad that you have him too,” Annie nods sympathetically, “I’m sorry you had to go through that.” 

“You’re an only child?” Mikasa asks her, she can tell that the talking is keeping her mind of being locked in the room. 

“I guess so,” Annie fiddles with the bobby pins in her bun, “I’m my mom's only child but my father has a daughter to another woman, but I’ve never met him or his daughter. They both live in Ukraine now and he is a grocer I’ve been told. My mother is in Copenhagen working as a ballet dancer, she hates Russia.”

“It must be hard being away from her.” 

“Not really,” Annie says frankly with a bobby pin hanging out of her mouth, “The Royal Danish Ballet is her dream, I was not, we never got along that well anyway, she was more like a school teacher than a mother,” the alarm stops ringing but it still remains dark, in the silence they can hear fire trucks approaching outside, “Mikasa,” Annie speaks quietly, “I’m sorry I was mean to you before, I made judgements about you without knowing you. You’re an amazing dancer, you’re stronger than any female dancer I’ve ever seen and everybody at school likes you, I’m sure any company would be glad to have you. Have confidence in yourself.” 

Mikasa’s heart flutters, she’s never heard anyone say something so bold without any embarrassment before, “That means a lot,” Mikasa is a bit flustered as she fumbles with her words, “I’m also sorry, I let jealousy get the better of me,” Mikasa smiles faintly into the darkness, “let’s cheer each other on from now on.” 

Mikasa is eager to ask Annie questions about her life in Russia. Mikasa always wanted to go but never got the chance. Maybe it's because they’re on better footing now, or it’s the darkness but for once Annie finds it to be easy to open up to her but talking about home makes part of her want to go back. It's another twenty minutes until a fireman comes to rescue them. Being pulling out of that room feels like being pulled out of a dream, Annie is surprised to see Mikasa’s face when they get outside in the rain. There has been a fire on the roof which spread inside, likely a malfunction or lightening strike but since i part of the cooling and air circulation system were ablaze, the upper and slowly main floor of the building is getting pumped with smoke. 

Eren is relieved to see that Mikasa and Annie are ok, he was getting worried about them being off on their own for so long. He’s soaking wet with rain water after arguing with the firemen this entire time to let him back in so he can go get them since they forcefully evacuated him from the building. But now that they're safe he can relax. Mikasa and Annie head off to take a much-needed shower while Eren corners Armin in his dorm room alone. 

“Armin,” Eren has that serious and determined look in his eyes again, something has been on his mind since he started dancing with Levi and heard the rumors about him, “you’re good a biology, can I ask you a question?” Armin swallows dryly, nods but he has no idea what Eren is going to ask. 

Eren takes a deep breath and looks Armin hard in the eyes, “how to two guys have sex?” 

Armin drops his face in his hands, “Um,” he knows Eren is serious about it, but even for someone who can name every organ, muscle and bone in the human body he is still uncomfortable, “why do you want to know?” 

“For a friend,” Eren says quickly and unconvincingly, Armin knows he doesn’t have any friends but he won’t challenge him on it, “is it really with the butt? Wouldn’t that hurt?” 

“That’s just one way to do it, I guess,” Armin nods and tries to give Eren a proper answer just as a teacher would, he owes him that at least. Armin highlights the use of protection and lubricants, this all seems like new information to Eren. Once he’s done explaining to the full extent of his knowledge he takes a deep breath and asks, “is there someone that you like, Eren?” 

“Oh,” with all the new information bombarding his brain Eren is caught a little off guard, “no, well,” Eren scratches the back of his head, he knows Armin won’t judge him, but then again he promised Levi he wouldn’t say anything about them, “I just wanted to know, just because I didn’t know.” 

“Out of curiosity for you friend?” Armin nods and smirks a little knowing that he caught Eren in a lie, Eren catches on that Armin knows and kicks at him. Eren goes back to his room, Jean ignores him and focuses on his magazine on American football. Eren lays on his bed and thinks about today. Since it was sectionals, it was just the boys and Levi. Levi still looks at him and talks to him differently that he talks to the other boys, gentler. He’s not as quick to raise his voice at him as he is with the others. Eren can sense Levi’s regret and remorse, even with that cinder block expression of his, his voice and body language isn’t as easily controlled. Late at night, Eren leaves the dorm and heads down to the school to see if he’s there. He’s going to at least hear him out, and ask questions to form an opinion. He would regret throwing all of this out over a misunderstanding. 

“Eren,” Levi’s tired eyes shoot off the mirror and to the unexpected face. He stumbles down from pointe.

“I was angry before but now,” Eren sets his bag on the floor and sits up against the wall, he takes a deep breath, isn’t sure entirely sure what motivates him to come here but he hopes talking will help him figure it out, “but now I want to hear what you have to say, I’d hate to be mad at you over nothing.” 

“Oh,” Levi stretches his aching legs, he’s glad Eren came otherwise he would have doubted that they would have ever talked properly again. Eren is a hard egg to crack that’s for sure, “what do you want to know?” 

“What’s your relationship to Erwin and his wife?” Eren asks boldly. 

“Well,” Levi sits down and goes into side splits, “he was my instructor, he’s more or less my friend and my boss now. That’s because of his father in law, the old dean, passed away couple years ago. It was hard on his wife, Mary. They live together, but she’s not well mentally and can get very paranoid and violent without warning,” Eren thinks back to what Ymir said about Levi getting attacked by her, perhaps that’s an explanation, “so she’s been in and out of mental hospitals since then. When she’s not around,” Levi stops stretching and sighs, he told Erwin that he would keep this all between them but Eren has the right to know after what happened, “he drinks, so I told him that if he ever feels like he’s going to drink that he should come to my place instead since I don’t have any alcohol and he won’t be alone. That’s why he was at my place that day, he has his own set of keys.” 

Eren nods, he feels a little silly getting so upset over this, Levi’s story makes sense and Eren wonders why he didn’t just hear him out in the first place. Eren fiddles with his thumbs, “You’ve slept with him?” 

“Yeah,” Levi looks away from Eren’s wide eyes, the past isn’t something he likes to talk about, especially something as regrettable as this, “A few times, when I was a student, it didn’t really mean anything, it just happened. I was lonely I guess and Erwin was kind to me when everyone else wasn’t. I don’t feel that way about him anymore, soon after that, I got a myself an age-appropriate boyfriend.” 

“Another student? What happened?” Eren presses him out of curiosity more than anything. 

Levi nods, “Ricardo, he was my roommate,” Levi can laugh about it now but back then the whole thing between them almost killed him, “I was in the company part time by then, and still going to school, he didn’t love me or anything, it was just all about the sex, which was fine, but then I got sick. Walking from my bed to the door was exhausting, never mind that, so, as you could imagine, he lost interest in me. It was a bad lung infection,” he goes back to stretching, his chest aches dully just thinking about it, “first it was just chest pain, coughing up blood, then coughing up parts of my lung. It was disgusting really, but Hanji had a field day every day collecting everything I coughed up and putting into slides... The scars on my chest,” he traces over them, though the surgery itself took a half a year to heal, putting himself through rigorous exercise caused more trauma to the scars, “are from the transplant. I mean, it was the 80’s,” he tries to laugh at it, “everyone smoked, but no this guy,” he points proudly to his lungs, “I got a nice n’ new healthy set, just not quite healthy enough for a ballet dancer but I can work on that. Honestly, it’s the immunosuppressants that are most of the problem, they make it hard for me to sleep and I bleed so easily and let me tell you, I had really bad acne for a year because of those little shits. It was like grade school all over again, what a nightmare,” he groans, there is nothing worse than being sick and ugly at the same time. 

“It must have been painful,” Eren pulls his knees into his body, he couldn’t even imagine being that sick and wondering what the future could hold, “and to start again, it probably was worse.” He had no idea how much Levi went through, no wonder her looks much older than he is, the illness and stress must have taken a decade off him. 

“Don’t feel bad for me,” Levi walks over to Eren and pulls his chin up, Eren’s face flushes pink, “I got a second chance and I’m healthy now. That’s why I wanted to do pointe, I want to make my mark on the ballet world and do it right. I’m short as hell and after the surgery I lost a lot of muscle mass, so I get to form my body how I want to again, if any man was born to do pointe it’s me,” The slight grin on Levi’s face raises Erens spirits, “Since you’re here,” Levi joins him on the wall, his voice becomes more serious, “I wanted to talk to you about that time I invited you up.” 

“Levi-,“ Eren turns to him, now that their mutual trust and understanding has been restored Eren fears what Levi is about to say. Levi’s dark hair falls over his eyes when he speaks.

“I shouldn’t have done that,” Levi’s eyes trace the floor boards, he’s given this all a lot of thought since that night, “you’re my student and I should be responsible for you. I really like dancing with you, but-,“ he pauses, and Eren catches a glimpse of conflicted sadness in his eyes, “but, it’s inappropriate and if anyone found out I could lose my job. So, if its ok with you, I’d like to keep dancing with you but anything more than that, like what happened that night,” he sighs heavily and speaks with such finality that Eren knows he means every word, “shouldn’t happen again.” 

Eren feels his heart drop in his stomach, “but,” Eren stutters, he rubs his eyes as his vision goes blurry. Tears? He sniffles and rubs at his eyes again. Levi is only five years older than him, it’s no a huge difference by any means. Levi’s face relaxes when he see’s how his words impacted his student, “Common’, Sunshine,” he says gently, “don’t cry,” but his attempt to comfort Eren only makes him feel worse. 

Eren finally finds a person that he likes and to be shutdown in such a way feels like the end of the world. Levi pulls him into a hug, “for now,” he speaks softly into the shaking shoulder, he hates to see Eren like this, “it’s for the best, you should focus on your studies,” he pushes Erens hair out of his eyes, “Ok?” 

Eren knows that Levi already made up his mind after thinking about it for some time, but his heart still aches, “W-what about after? When I graduate?” Eren hiccups, his big watery green eyes tear at Levi’s heart strings. 

“Well,” Levi shrugs, a small grin creeps across his face, “after that, they’re won’t be a problem,” he wipes away the tears on Eren’s face, feeling his warm skin, Eren feels better knowing that there is still a chance for him yet, “you’re not in that much of a rush to lose your virginity, are you?” 

Eren frowns turns into a pout as he sniffles, “What makes you say I’m a virgin, for all you know I’m a total babe magnet,” Erens bold statement earns him a laugh from Levi. Eren still gets the sense that Levi would rather be with him than to not, he does still have a chance after all. It brings some comfort to him. 

“Sure you are, ballet boy,” Levi pats him on the head, and gets up to go back to stretching now that Erens stopped crying, “And I’m Michael Jackson, the king of pop.” Eren makes a face, though he does appreciate Levi’s lightheartedness. 

Eren wipes the remaining tears out of his eyes and digs through his bag for his dance gear, if he was thinking he would have gotten dressed before he left so now he has to get undressed and dressed in front of Levi, “I was thinking,” Eren clears his throat, “about the name of your ballet,” he has Levi’s attention, “What about just calling it, Danseur?”

Levi thinks about it for a moment, “you know,” he weighs it in his mind against his other ideas, “I like it, it has an air about it.” Eren is pleased that he likes it, “I’m glad that this all worked out,” Levi keeps an eye on Eren as he warms up, “because I’ve been dying to ask you to perform this with me at the Ballet World Showcase in four months, it’s being held at our theater. They need three groups containing students from our school, there will be scouts from all the best companies there.” 

Eren is startled and as a result almost looses his balance, “Really? I mean, yes, but,” he can hardly contain his excitement, “I don’t know if I’m good enough, are you sure?” 

“You’re one of the best male dancers I’ve seen in a long time,” Levi praises him warmly, it fills Eren’s heart with joy, “I know you would do well, besides, the Showcase would be good for your career, that’s how I got my start after all, I had companies fighting for me after that. We’re lucky that it's being held inin the city.” 

“If you think I can do it,” Eren beams, “Then I’ll do it.” 

“Good,” Levi’s glad to see that Eren’s back to his usual self, “I was also thinking about changing the choreography to include a couple more students, but I haven’t asked them yet.” 

“Who?” Eren asks, he hopes it’s not frosted tips. 

“Your sister and Annie,” he says, “They’re both very talented, the other two student groups are also pas de deux, so four of us - that would be special. I want to show the world something new,” Levi says with grandiose optimism, “even if others think it's strange if we could pull it off and I’m sure people would be talking about it for years.” 

“I’m sure Mikasa could lift Annie,” Eren muddles over it, “she can lift me and bench press 140lb like nothing. But I don’t know how well they’d get along, actually,” he recalls them hanging around each other earlier, “it seems like it's only been since this afternoon that they’ve been spending time together.” 

“She can lift you?” Levi is pleasantly impressed, “I wasn’t thinking about that, I wouldn’t want either of them to get injured,” Eren watches him blissfully from the barre, Levi really does love dance, he always gets so passionate when thinking and talking about it, “but, well shit, I might have to consider it now that you put that idea into my head. I’ll talk to them after class tomorrow, I think we might really have something here” he lets out a single laugh and pushes his hair back, his eyes are wild with possibilities. To see him light up like that, Eren hopes one day he could wake up to that face. Levi grins madly, “I’m probably going to stay up all night thinking about it,” A Renaissance romance, he keeps thinking, “Come here,” he beckons Eren over, “Let’s try out some of the new choreography I’ve been working on.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just for clarification, 
> 
> *Bolshoi: Is one of the oldest and most prestigious classical ballet companies in the world. The name is also associated with the dance academy and theater. It is located Moscow, Russia. 
> 
> * Vaganova: Is regarded as one of the best, if not the best, ballet academy in the world. It is located in St. Petersburg, Russia.


	6. Home

Levi spoke privately to Mikasa and Annie separately after their Wednesday class. He didn’t want to tell them too much to avoid potential and unwanted sharing of information. While Erwin and the other school advisors gave him the go ahead, he still wants the plans for the Showcase to remain low-key, preventing jealousy from other students and rumors that would surely follow them. He invites the two girls to join him and Eren in a practice the same night, the both agree to it. 

When it’s dark and the halls of the school are empty, Mikasa and Annie wander into the studio where Eren and Levi are chatting while warming up. Compare to their somewhat tense classroom atmosphere this feels much more relaxed. 

“Thanks for coming,” Levi walks over to them, the two girls are more than a bit surprised to see him in pointe shoes. 

“Why so late?” Annie yawns as she takes her boots off, Levi had asked them to come an hour after curfew, so it’s already 11. The reason why he practices so late himself is because his medication makes it hard to sleep and he prefers dancing in secret away from others judging eyes. But maybe for those not accustom to it it might feel very late,

“Because no one else is here,” he replies, “It’s important to me that you keep this secretive, at least for the time being.” 

“If that’s what you want,” Annie nods, she really has no idea of what to expect and neither does Mikasa. Even Eren left her entirely in the dark since Levi requested it. She watches as Eren and Levi dance, it’s strange at first to watch but the longer she watches the more she begins to enjoy it. She can tell they’ve been practicing for some time now, Eren seems confident and Levi’s performance reflects that. The two seem to get along quite well in spite of how much Eren seemed to despise him last week. 

Levi plays the piece for them on the tape deck and annotates what he would like to see. He hasn’t had much experience choreographing anything from scratch, but he wants to tailor the choreography to fit their personalities and abilities to the highest degree. It will be a trial and error type of progression, he gives his idea and they see what they can do with it. 

He wants to open up the piece with Mikasa and Eren dancing alone in unison. What he is planned in challenging, and it takes nearly an hour for them to get the first 20 seconds of his program. Levi raises his voice at them, not on purpose, but it’s just how he’s used to giving orders. It makes the atmosphere tense like in class again, but it pushes the two to work harder. 

Mikasa taps out for a break, Levi can see that she and Eren are physically exhausted. It is the middle of the night after all. So, he lets them relax so he can work with Annie for a bit. Watching Annie dance with fresh eyes Mikasa finds herself getting lost in her motions. She’s graceful and weightless, and even though Eren is sitting beside her and chatting, she can hardly focus on what he is saying. 

“She’s beautiful,” Mikasa interrupts him as she tries to steady her tired eyes but they refuse to obey, “Isn’t she?” 

Eren nods in agreement, “she is,” he props his head up on his elbows and watches them from the low angle, “her and Levi dance so well together, I’m almost jealous.” 

“Jealous of him?” she asks, her vision starts getting dark around the corners, it's almost as if it’s snowing television static before her eyes, its dizzyingly beautiful, Annie looks like a ballerina in a snow globe, “Or her?” 

Eren laughs, but when he turns to her the smile is ripped from his face. She’s leaning to the side; her eyes are lifeless and her skin is as pale if she could be a corpse. He calls for Levi out of fear and manages to catch her just before she falls. 

It’s hot, almost as if standing in front of a fire pit, she can hear people talking, and for a second she can see an unfamiliar face, “Can you hear me, miss?” the voice and mouth call to her from somewhere out in space but it’s drowned out by sirens and the dark silence that claws its way back. She doesn’t know what’s going on, only a few minutes ago she was watching Annie and Levi dance now she’s trapped inside her body unable to understand her surroundings or move. 

She feels a pressure and a prick in her arm. When she is able to open her eyes for a moment its bright, so bright. People are talking and giving orders, but she can’t understand, “Where is Eren?” the words rise from her throat and silences all the chatter. 

“Your brother is outside the room,” a female voice replies, it sounds as if her words were flowing over the ocean, “Do you have any allergies?” She asks gently but in a rushed voice, she’s shining a light into Mikasa’s eyes but she can’t see a thing. 

Mikasa tries to recall ‘allergy’ but the word is strange and foreign as if it’s the first time she’s heard it. Her head radiates with pain; it hurts too much to stay awake, it’s easier to rest. Her body powers down to the minimum, and with her permission, she blacks out. 

When she awakes it's in a light-filled room, the brightness coming through the window is almost dreamlike with its cotton candy pink hues. It’s a sunset, she must have slept for an entire day. Disorientated and confused she turns to the IV in her arm with horror, she’s in a hospital room and she could have sworn she was fine a few minutes ago. 

“Thank, God,” A deep male voice sighs with relief, it takes a moment for her eyes to get into focus but when it does she see Levi sitting in the chair beside her. 

“Where is Eren? Is he okay?” She looks around the room, there are two other patients in with her, but it looks like Levi is alone. She knows Eren would never let her stay in the hospital by herself, she begins to panic thinking something has happened to him as well. 

“I sent him home,” Levi scratches at his unwashed hair, he looks as though he’s been sitting here for days, “and let me tell you, it wasn’t easy. I’ll have the nurse call him-“ 

“It’s fine,” she rubs her eyes, her head feels like it’s going to burst at the temples. 

“It’s not fine,” Levi whispers loudly, as not to wake the other patients, “This is all my fault,” he holds his head in his hands, after staying awake for more than 24 hours and drinking his weight in coffee, his guilt overwhelms him, “I pushed you, I’m sorry.” 

She suddenly remembers what this is all about, why she fainted and why she is here, “It’s my fault, I just-” she shields her eyes with her arm, her voice is scratchy and it’s painful to talk, “how long have I been out?” He rushes to get her something to drink, which is much welcomed. 

 

“Two days,” He sets the cup down on the nightstand where a pile of get-well cards has amassed, “Eren was here the whole time, I sent him back last night. He was worried sick,” he’s grateful that she’s doing better now but he’s worried about how this must reflect upon him as a teacher and as an adult, “we all were.”

“I’m sorry,” she rubs her eyes, “It’s because I stopped eating and drinking. I just,” she feels the tears well up in her throat, this could have so easily been avoided and to think that she caused everyone so much stress breaks her heart, “I just wanted to starve off a few kilos, don’t want to be like this anymore, I’m a monster compare to the other girls.” Her entire being aches, she wants to see Eren so very much. 

“Mikasa,” Levi reaches out to her and cups her hand, “Nothing is wrong with you,” he speaks sincerely from the heart in a way she’s never heard him talk before, “it wouldn’t have picked you over the other students if I wasn’t impressed by you, you’re strong,” his eyes meet hers, and he gently smiles, “that’s what makes you special, but if you feel like your weight is hindering your performances,” he clears his throat and pulls back a bit, getting too sentimental is still embarrassing to him, “Talk to Dr. Zoe, she’s the best of the best when it comes to anything physical or mental health related. The school has great resources, use them. Plus, I can tell you that every dancer feels like this at least every week,” the last bit stems from personal experience, “I’m sorry you had to struggled with this on your own, Mikasa.”

Mikasa nods and brushes at her eyes again, “Thanks for staying with me, I appreciate it.”

“It’s no problem,” he nods reassuringly to her. He’s more than familiar with hospitals by this point in his life and knowing that he wouldn’t be able to sleep at home knowing that he could have put a student’s life in danger, it was an easy choice to make. He’s glad she’s not sick with anything serious, it would kill him to see another one of his students get injured or sick like he was. He gets up to call Eren to tell him that she’s awake, Eren is overjoyed and leaves as soon as he can. By the time Eren gets down to the hospital in rush hour traffic she’s fast asleep, but by the following morning, after eating her first proper meal in a week, she’s back to her old self. Everyone is glad to see her back at the dorms, especially Annie. 

Levi talks to his trio about possibly canceling the showcase. He’s still worried about Mikasa’s health, perhaps the stress would be too much for her right now, but she’s as fully committed as ever. It’s with Dr. Zoe’s help that she gets her confidence back. When the showcase comes, her confidence shines as brightly as ever. 

On the day of, the four are waiting in the wings full of anticipation. The second pas de deux couple is going, this time Hitch and Marlo after going after Nanaba and Mike. They’re dancing to a waltz, but Annie is stressing too much about their own performance to worry about others.

“Do I look, ok?” Annie says to Mikasa, her face is red with anxiety. Annie fiddles with her calf length dress, it looks beautiful on her. It’s long royal blue dress with off shoulder sleeves. The skirt material is tulle so when she moves it trails behind her, she looks like an angel floating in the clouds, and in just the right light the crystals around the bust line sparkle in radiant rainbow hues. Annie crosses her legs and shakes out her arms, Mikasa didn’t expect that Annie was one to get stage fright. 

“You look beautiful,” Mikasa reaches out and gently caresses the side of her face and pushes back her baby hairs behind her ears, she never got her ears pierced but the false clip in diamond earrings look stunning on her, “Without the bangs in your face, you look like a true ballerina.” Annie has always been a self-conscious about her nose and forehead, they’re far too large in her option but Mikasa and the others all agree that she looks beautiful like this. Mikasa holds her hand to try to calm her nerves, and it slowly calms her tremors. She’s glad they’ve made it this far, and as she squeezes her hand she hopes they can push higher together. 

Mikasa’s outfit is similar to Annie’s but her dress has proper shoulders and instead of tulle the bottom is shorter and made of flowing silk that hangs to her body like spring water. She wishes she could have a dress like Annie’s, but hers remains for functional for her own choreography. It shows off her muscles and allows her to move freely, all in all she’s glad that Levi ditched the renaissance theme and went with a 1940’s theme, the costumes he had planned out were far too tacky and uncomfortable. 

Eren pulls on his black leather gloves and Levi helps him secure his belt, Eren is wearing a black military style jacket with the bold silver buttons buttoned up to his neck, “it suits you,” Levi whispers to him, “A man in uniform,” Levi brushes off Erens tights with a slight grin, he’s managed to collect a bit of dust while stretching backstage, “You’re going to have all the girls chasing after you for sure.” He says it as a joke, but it hits him with a pang of sadness thinking that he’s watched Eren grow up so quickly in comparison to when they first met a short while ago. Eren used to be so shy and every social interaction tested his confidence, but now talks so much more directly and has made good friends everyone. Levi wonders if Eren still needs him after all, when he has his hat firmly in place on his head, It does really feel like he’s going off to war forever. 

“Levi,” Eren says lowly his emerald eyes trace to Levi who pauses, “Thanks for choosing me to dance with you,” the tips of his ears flush red with shyness, he speaks from his heart, “I’ve enjoyed it more than I’ve enjoyed anything.”

“I didn’t choose you,” Levi brushes the final spec of dust off his leg, he goes silent and looks at the ground, “Fate did, and I’m glad you showed up when you did, otherwise I would still be dancing by myself in that room and, of course, I wouldn’t have known you like I know you now. I think that after this you’ll get tons of offers from companies after this, just make sure you don’t forget about me.” 

“I could never forget about you,” Eren pulls Levi to his feet and close to him as the crowd gives those on stage a standing ovation “Please if you can, let me dance with you again. I’d die if this is going to be the last time.” 

Levi knows how selfish he must have seemed at first wanting to inject himself into his student’s performance, but now he wants the best for all of them and he has faith they will achieve greatness. He straightens his own costume, a smooth black tuxedo jacket with bow tie. He has an abject fear of being left behind, but with Eren in his life he knows that won’t happen again, “I never want to stop dancing with you,” Levi rolls up on his pointe shoes and kisses Eren on the cheek to encourage him. Erens chest goes heavy and warm, he pulls Levi into a tight embrace as if his life depends on it. The both know deep down that everything will be alright. 

“Next up,” The announcer calls them, “We have first year Stohess students: Annie Leonhart, Mikasa Ackerman, Eren Jaeger with Stohess instructor Levi Ackerman performing and original piece titled, Home, to Debussy’s Arabesque number one. Please give them a warm welcome.” The audience gives them a gentle applause to call them onto stage. 

“Break a leg you two!” Levi shoves Eren towards the stage, “we’re right behind ya’,” but Eren is a little bit hesitant. Mikasa grabs Eren’s hand and gives him a smile, he takes a deep breath and the two of them walk out hand in hand to the sounds of applause and some supportive shouting from their peers in the top back row. 

The moment before the music starts is enough to stop anyone’s heart from beating, but it's when the music begins do they feel themselves float into character and become alive again. The story is that of a soldier coming home to his wife after the war. He’s glad to see her, they embrace and begin to dance and jump in unison, with the wife leading and him struggling to follow. Being at war and seeing terrible things has injured him mentally, and he’s not the same person he once was. He’s confused and sad, leaving him to fall lifelessly in her arms but she refuses to give up on him. They do love each other to death but after thinking he wasn’t going to come back home he’s been given a new lease on life. 

He wants to get out and see the world with her. Go to parties, see movies, anything to feel alive again. He slumps again, she’s quick to catch him and straighten his hat and hair. She’s young and strong, and if anything she will be a brick wall for both of them. When the music slows, the wives newly widowed friend meets them at a park, she floats out effortlessly on a bourrée. And with her, she’s invited her neighbour along. When the neighbour comes, his eyes meet with the husbands, they quickly greet each other. When Levi rolls up en pointe to shake his hand, there is hushed chatter and a bit of laughter from the crowd. Levi doesn’t let it bother him. 

Not knowing that her husband died, the wife and husband pay their sympathies to their friend. They spin around her and lift her to let her know she is loved and missed. When the music picks up again the husband and wife lead dance to which their friends follow. But none of it feels quite right, and when the music goes light it’s the husband that asks the neighbour for a dance, he accepts, and moves in a flawless Arabesque penché. 

They move together slowly at first, as the women spin each other around. Hand in hand the neighbour and the husband dance together. Eren’s face brushes Levi’s when he raises him off the floor, the audience is captivated. Levi’s hyperextended legs deliver perfect lines as Mikasa and Annie join in. The wife lifts the window high in the air for a moment the both freeze in the air in picture perfect fashion. They slowly bring their partner back to the ground, letting them rest on the tips of their pointe shoes. The pairs smile at each other with tears in their eyes and sweat on their brow. They’ve manged to come this far and even though things didn’t work out as they have planned, they’ve found another to spend their days with. They don’t know what will come, but they embrace the uncertantly and each other as if to say ‘I’m home.’ 

 

The End. 

 

 

 

 

 

But, of course, the showcase was a huge success for the dancers and the school. Admissions to the school rise 10 fold after the performance was featured in every major dance magazine and journal as well as national and international news circuits. The three students and Levi alike are bombarded by scouts and recruiters from companies all over the world. It’s a terribly overwhelming, but Eren knows he wants to stay with Stohess and he accepts their offer to begin part-time in the corp de ballet starting next year while he continues his second and final year of school. 

Levi, the following year, also returns to The Royal Stohess Dance Company full-time. Now that he’s not Erens instructor the two can hardly keep their hands off each other before and after rehearsals. They’re happily living together by the time Eren is given a full-time contract. However, Levi still finds doing the old soloist roles he used to do a bit challenging with his heath situation, so he scales back his on stage performing and gladly puts his choreography skills to use and helps choreography a new modern day Hamlet with Armin (the new assistant choreographer), featuring Eren himself as young Prince of Denmark. Eren’s father comes to see the show to give his support for the first time since Eren started dancing professionally. It fills his heart with joy to see his son doing something he loves so much. 

Mikasa and Annie also receive and accept a contract identical to Erens. Annie’s skills quickly make her stand-out among the other corp dancers, she’s promoted to a soloist in her second year, which is unheard of for such a young dancer. With Mikasa supporting her every step of the way, they've become completely inseparable and spend what little free time they have together hand in hand. 

Mikasa gathers herself a cult-like following right off the bat. While Eren may be the prince in Hamlet, Mikasa earns herself the nickname Prince of the Ballet. Her strength and agility put her in the forefront of every modern and jazz piece they do, people come from all over the continent just to see her perform. She’s forever grateful to Eren, Annie and her friends for supporting her in embracing who she is. 

Between all of them, they couldn’t be any happier. Their love of dance and love for each other let them know that anything is possible as long as you have faith in yourself and those close to you.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! I'm not a ballet expert or anything, so please forgive me if some of my ballet-lingo is incorrect. Enjoy!


End file.
